Sharp-tailed sandpiper - Calidris acuminata
Photographed feeding on the shallow flats of Waihora (Lake Ellesmere), Canterbury, New Zealand.
Perhaps as few as 30 of these birds are now reaching New Zealand each year. Because New Zealand is on the edge of the sharp-tailed sandpiper range, it is unclear whether the large decline in the number of birds arriving here mirrors overall population trends, or whether it reflects a change in migration patterns, with a lower proportion of birds crossing the Tasman Sea.
Sharp-tailed sandpiper - Calidris acuminata
Photographed feeding on the shallow flats of Waihora (Lake Ellesmere), Canterbury, New Zealand.
Perhaps as few as 30 of these birds are now reaching New Zealand each year. Because New Zealand is on the edge of the sharp-tailed sandpiper range, it is unclear whether the large decline in the number of birds arriving here mirrors overall population trends, or whether it reflects a change in migration patterns, with a lower proportion of birds crossing the Tasman Sea.