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Sharp-tailed sandpiper – Calidris acuminata

Photographed on the mudflats at Lake Ellesmere

22cm 60 g

 

An uncommon Arctic migrant in New Zealand, this medium-small wader is one of several species that visits New Zealand for the Southern hemispgere summer, migrating from the Siberian region. Favours low growing saltmarsh and estuaries and open turf flats of coastal lakes.

A richly speckled brown wader with a rufous crown. In breeding season it develops a rich chestnut red and distinctive boomerang shaped streaks along its lower, paler flanks.

 

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Uploaded on November 10, 2012
Taken on November 9, 2012