Pipers and Plovers
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Pectoral Sandpiper - Calidris melanotos
Norfolk
Pectoral sandpipers are scarce passage migrants from America and Siberia. A few are seen in spring, but the vast majority appear in late summer and autumn. Young pectoral sandpipers from the eastern coast of North America can be blown over the Atlantic by areas of low pressure. It is the most common North American wading bird to occur here.
Common Sandpiper - Actitis hypoleucos
The Common Sandpiper is a small wading bird which breeds along fast-moving rivers and near lakes, lochs and reservoirs in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northern England. Wintering birds may be spotted along the south coast, but passage migrants can be seen at the edge of freshwater lakes or on estuaries during spring and autumn. It bobs up and down when standing, known as 'teetering', and has a distinctive, stiff-winged flight.
Sandpipers can be a difficult group of birds to get to grips with. Common Sandpipers are green-brown above, with a bright white belly. They display a brown rump and strong white wingbars when they fly. They are most similar to Wood Sandpipers and Green Sandpipers, but are smaller and shorter-legged than both. Common Sandpipers have a short, straight, grey bill and green legs.
Nests around the edge of lakes and large rivers in the uplands, but can be seen on spring and autumn migration at inland wetlands throughout the country. The small wintering population can be found along the south coast.
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015).
Pectoral Sandpiper - Calidris melanotos
Norfolk
Pectoral sandpipers are scarce passage migrants from America and Siberia. A few are seen in spring, but the vast majority appear in late summer and autumn. Young pectoral sandpipers from the eastern coast of North America can be blown over the Atlantic by areas of low pressure. It is the most common North American wading bird to occur here.
Common Sandpiper - Actitis hypoleucos
The Common Sandpiper is a small wading bird which breeds along fast-moving rivers and near lakes, lochs and reservoirs in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northern England. Wintering birds may be spotted along the south coast, but passage migrants can be seen at the edge of freshwater lakes or on estuaries during spring and autumn. It bobs up and down when standing, known as 'teetering', and has a distinctive, stiff-winged flight.
Sandpipers can be a difficult group of birds to get to grips with. Common Sandpipers are green-brown above, with a bright white belly. They display a brown rump and strong white wingbars when they fly. They are most similar to Wood Sandpipers and Green Sandpipers, but are smaller and shorter-legged than both. Common Sandpipers have a short, straight, grey bill and green legs.
Nests around the edge of lakes and large rivers in the uplands, but can be seen on spring and autumn migration at inland wetlands throughout the country. The small wintering population can be found along the south coast.
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015).
Purple Sandpiper - Calidris Maritima
In Britain, these birds occur in winter in good numbers principally along the east and south coasts, where they favour rocky shorelines adjacent to the sea.
It is much rarer as a breeding bird, found only in a localised area of the Cairngorms National Park, where 1–3 pairs have bred since the 1970s. Records of breeding by this species in the UK are monitored and archived by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel.
They are late migrants and move to rocky ice-free Atlantic coasts in winter. most go no further south than North Carolina and northern Portugal. They are fairly gregarious, forming small flocks, often with ruddy turnstones. This species is tame and approachable.
Their breeding habitat is the northern tundra on Arctic islands in Canada and coastal areas in Greenland and northwestern Europe. They nest on the ground either elevated on rocks or in lower damp location. The males makes several scrapes; the female chooses one and lays 3 or 4 eggs. The male takes the major responsibility for incubation and tends the chicks. The young feed themselves.
An apparent case of hybridization between this species and the dunlin has been reported from England.
A couple of pairs nest in Scotland, but this species is mainly a winter visitor to almost any rocky coast in the UK. Most are found in Orkney, Shetland and along the east coast of Scotland and northern England - it is scarce south of Yorkshire, other than Devon and Cornwall. The breeding areas in Scotland are kept secret to protect the birds from egg thieves and disturbance.
It is listed on Schedule 1 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Dunlins (Calidris alpina, Scolopacidae) hunting along the rocks of the breakwater at Terrell's Island Preserve, Lake Butte des Morts,
Omro/Winneconne, Winnebago County, Wisconsin.
The dunlin has been known as the red-backed sandpiper, the name given for the breeding bird's deeply colored backs. The name "dunlin" derives from "dun," meaning "dull brown" to describe the subdued colors of non breeding birds.
Although an abundant species of least concern dunlins are currently in sharp decline.
MY306270m
Common Sandpiper - Actitis hypoleucos
The Common Sandpiper is a small wading bird which breeds along fast-moving rivers and near lakes, lochs and reservoirs in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northern England. Wintering birds may be spotted along the south coast, but passage migrants can be seen at the edge of freshwater lakes or on estuaries during spring and autumn. It bobs up and down when standing, known as 'teetering', and has a distinctive, stiff-winged flight.
Sandpipers can be a difficult group of birds to get to grips with. Common Sandpipers are green-brown above, with a bright white belly. They display a brown rump and strong white wingbars when they fly. They are most similar to Wood Sandpipers and Green Sandpipers, but are smaller and shorter-legged than both. Common Sandpipers have a short, straight, grey bill and green legs.
Nests around the edge of lakes and large rivers in the uplands, but can be seen on spring and autumn migration at inland wetlands throughout the country. The small wintering population can be found along the south coast.
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015).
Pectoral Sandpiper - Calidris melanotos
Norfolk
Pectoral sandpipers are scarce passage migrants from America and Siberia. A few are seen in spring, but the vast majority appear in late summer and autumn. Young pectoral sandpipers from the eastern coast of North America can be blown over the Atlantic by areas of low pressure. It is the most common North American wading bird to occur here.
Curlew Sandpiper - Calidris Ferruginea
The male curlew sandpiper performs an aerial display during courtship. The clutch of 3–4 eggs are laid in ground scrape in the tundra and taiga, mostly in Siberia.
It is extremely difficult to measure breeding success or population trends in their breeding grounds because nests are scattered over a vast region and their positions influenced by localised weather.
Of all shorebird species, the curlew sandpiper has the smallest breeding range in relation to its non-breeding range. After breeding these birds migrate south to Africa, Australasia or India. South Africa is at the southern limit of the migration path from Siberia, 15,000 km (9,300 mi) or 130° of latitude away.
This wader is highly gregarious, and will form flocks with other calidrid waders, particularly dunlin. Despite its easterly breeding range, this species is regular on passage in western Europe, presumably because of the southwesterly migration route.
It forages in soft mud on marshes and the coast, mainly picking up food by sight. It mostly eats insects and other small invertebrates.
The numbers of this species (and of little stint) depend on the population of lemmings. In poor lemming years, predatory species such as skuas and snowy owls will take Arctic-breeding waders instead.
Counts of the birds in South Africa, specifically at Langebaan Lagoon where they are most numerous, indicate a 40% decline in numbers between 1975 and 2009. A similar trend has been noted in Australia and may be linked to effects of global warming at the breeding grounds.
This species occasionally hybridizes with the sharp-tailed sandpiper and the pectoral sandpiper, producing the presumed;species called ;Cooper's sandpiper Calidris × cooperi) and Cox's sandpiper Calidris× paramelanotos), respectively.
Green Sandpiper - Tringa Ochropus
It breeds across subarctic Europe and Asia and is a migratory bird, wintering in southern Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and tropical Africa. Food is small invertebrate items picked off the mud as this species works steadily around the edges of its chosen pond.
This is not a gregarious species, although sometimes small numbers congregate in suitable feeding areas. Green sandpiper is very much a bird of freshwater, and is often found in sites too restricted for other waders, which tend to like a clear all-round view.
It lays 2–4 eggs in an old tree nest of another species, such as a fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). The clutch takes about three weeks to hatch.
The green sandpiper is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Widely distributed and not uncommon, it is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN on a global scale.
Purple Sandpiper
Going thru and trying to organize my photos a little more, I came across my trip down to Barnegat Bay! I really need to convince my driver to get back down there!!!
Date taken: 02-20-2017
DSC 3499
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Nikon 300mm w 2tx
ISO 720
1/800 sec f8
Thanks for viewing, commenting on and your Faves of this image, I greatly appreciate them!!
Curlew Sandpiper - Calidris Ferruginea
The male curlew sandpiper performs an aerial display during courtship. The clutch of 3–4 eggs are laid in ground scrape in the tundra and taiga, mostly in Siberia.
It is extremely difficult to measure breeding success or population trends in their breeding grounds because nests are scattered over a vast region and their positions influenced by localised weather.
Of all shorebird species, the curlew sandpiper has the smallest breeding range in relation to its non-breeding range. After breeding these birds migrate south to Africa, Australasia or India. South Africa is at the southern limit of the migration path from Siberia, 15,000 km (9,300 mi) or 130° of latitude away.
This wader is highly gregarious, and will form flocks with other calidrid waders, particularly dunlin. Despite its easterly breeding range, this species is regular on passage in western Europe, presumably because of the southwesterly migration route.
It forages in soft mud on marshes and the coast, mainly picking up food by sight. It mostly eats insects and other small invertebrates.
The numbers of this species (and of little stint) depend on the population of lemmings. In poor lemming years, predatory species such as skuas and snowy owls will take Arctic-breeding waders instead.
Counts of the birds in South Africa, specifically at Langebaan Lagoon where they are most numerous, indicate a 40% decline in numbers between 1975 and 2009. A similar trend has been noted in Australia and may be linked to effects of global warming at the breeding grounds.
This species occasionally hybridizes with the sharp-tailed sandpiper and the pectoral sandpiper, producing the presumed "species" called "Cooper's sandpiper" ("Calidris" × cooperi) and "Cox's sandpiper" ("Calidris" × paramelanotos), respectively.
The Least Sandpiper is the smallest shorebird in the world, weighing in at about 1 ounce and measuring 5-6 inches long.
Wood Sandpiper - Tringa Glareola
The wood sandpiper is a medium-sized wading bird, with a fine straight bill, yellowish legs and a conspicuous long white stripe from the bill over the eye to the back of the neck. In flight, it shows no wing-stripes and a square white rump.
Is is a passage migrant in spring and autumn, breeding in Northern Europe and wintering in Africa. A few pairs breed in the Scottish Highlands. The flooding of some previously drained traditional marshes in Scotland may help this species in future. Wood sandpipers are listed as a Schedule 1 species.
The wood sandpiper breeds in subarctic wetlands from the Scottish Highlands across Europe and Asia. They migrate to Africa, Southern Asia, particularly India, and Australia. Vagrant birds have been seen as far into the Pacific as the Hawaiian Islands. In Micronesia it is a regular visitor to the Mariana Islands (where flocks of up to 32 birds are reported) and Palau; it is recorded on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands about once per decade. This species is encountered in the western Pacific region between mid-October and mid-May. A slight westward expansion saw the establishment of a small but permanent breeding population in Scotland since the 1950s.
This bird is usually found on freshwater during migration and wintering. They forage by probing in shallow water or on wet mud, and mainly eat insects and similar small prey. T. glareola nests on the ground or uses an abandoned old tree nest of another bird, such as the fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). Four pale green eggs are laid between March and May.
Adult wood sandpipers moult all their primary feathers between August and December, whilst immature birds moult varying number of outer primaries between December and April, much closer to their departure from Africa. Immatures are also much more flexible than adults in the timing and rate of their moult and refueling. Adults and immatures which accumulate fuel loads of c.50% of their lean body mass can potentially cross distances of 2397–4490 km in one non-stop flight.
Not the greatest of light, but I had to make do with what I had as the birds are usually only seen in the fall and I have never seen two together.
Best viewed large.
20201106 0992
I posted images of two of the very smallest Sandpiers we see in North America. This is a Least Sandpiper, and the the other is a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Their body lengths are about 6 inches.
Murray Marsh. Sturgeon County, Alberta.
Pectoral Sandpipers have dense streaking on the breast, but there is a sharp border with the white belly. Their slender down-curved bills are dull green to orange at the base.
Sturgeon County, Alberta.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: "The Pectoral Sandpiper is among the most recognizable of small shorebirds, larger than the small “peep” sandpipers and sporting a distinctively stippled breast that ends neatly at a white belly."
They are migrating through our region on their way to their Tundra breeding grounds.
Murray Marsh. Sturgeon County, Alberta.
Purple Sandpiper - Calidris Maritima
In Britain, these birds occur in winter in good numbers principally along the east and south coasts, where they favour rocky shorelines adjacent to the sea.
It is much rarer as a breeding bird, found only in a localised area of the Cairngorms National Park, where 1–3 pairs have bred since the 1970s. Records of breeding by this species in the UK are monitored and archived by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel.
They are late migrants and move to rocky ice-free Atlantic coasts in winter. most go no further south than North Carolina and northern Portugal. They are fairly gregarious, forming small flocks, often with ruddy turnstones. This species is tame and approachable.
Their breeding habitat is the northern tundra on Arctic islands in Canada and coastal areas in Greenland and northwestern Europe. They nest on the ground either elevated on rocks or in lower damp location. The males makes several scrapes; the female chooses one and lays 3 or 4 eggs. The male takes the major responsibility for incubation and tends the chicks. The young feed themselves.
An apparent case of hybridization between this species and the dunlin has been reported from England.
A couple of pairs nest in Scotland, but this species is mainly a winter visitor to almost any rocky coast in the UK. Most are found in Orkney, Shetland and along the east coast of Scotland and northern England - it is scarce south of Yorkshire, other than Devon and Cornwall. The breeding areas in Scotland are kept secret to protect the birds from egg thieves and disturbance.
It is listed on Schedule 1 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Wikipedia: The purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America and winters further south on the Atlantic coast.
Conservations status: Least Concern
Common Sandpiper - Actitis hypoleucos
The Common Sandpiper is a small wading bird which breeds along fast-moving rivers and near lakes, lochs and reservoirs in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northern England. Wintering birds may be spotted along the south coast, but passage migrants can be seen at the edge of freshwater lakes or on estuaries during spring and autumn. It bobs up and down when standing, known as 'teetering', and has a distinctive, stiff-winged flight.
Sandpipers can be a difficult group of birds to get to grips with. Common Sandpipers are green-brown above, with a bright white belly. They display a brown rump and strong white wingbars when they fly. They are most similar to Wood Sandpipers and Green Sandpipers, but are smaller and shorter-legged than both. Common Sandpipers have a short, straight, grey bill and green legs.
Nests around the edge of lakes and large rivers in the uplands, but can be seen on spring and autumn migration at inland wetlands throughout the country. The small wintering population can be found along the south coast.
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015).
A close look at a very small Sandpiper.
If you sit still and wait for them to move by your position, these House Sparrow-sized peeps will often pass by very close. They forage in very shallow water or on the shore itself.
Sturgeon County, Alberta.
Green Sandpiper - Tringa Ochropus
It breeds across subarctic Europe and Asia and is a migratory bird, wintering in southern Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and tropical Africa. Food is small invertebrate items picked off the mud as this species works steadily around the edges of its chosen pond.
This is not a gregarious species, although sometimes small numbers congregate in suitable feeding areas. Green sandpiper is very much a bird of freshwater, and is often found in sites too restricted for other waders, which tend to like a clear all-round view.
It lays 2–4 eggs in an old tree nest of another species, such as a fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). The clutch takes about three weeks to hatch.
The green sandpiper is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Widely distributed and not uncommon, it is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN on a global scale.