Semipalmated Sandpiper
Calidris pusilla
Small, grayish-brown sandpiper. Typically shows relatively short, blunt-tipped bill, but this varies across the breeding range: western populations are shortest-billed, eastern populations are longest, and females have longer bills than males! Also note blackish legs, although they can appear dull gray or greenish. In breeding plumage, fairly pale grayish brown, sometimes with brighter rusty cap and cheek. Nonbreeding is plain gray above and white below. Juveniles have attractive scaly pattern on upperparts, and variable coloration: usually grayish with some buffy areas, occasionally brighter rufous. Most similar to Western and Least Sandpipers. Western averages slightly larger and longer-billed, with brighter rufous on breeding adults and juveniles; nonbreeding birds paler but extremely similar to Semipalmated. Least Sandpiper is darker and browner. Breeds on high Arctic tundra. Migrates to South America for the winter; very rarely lingers in the U.S. past November, unlike Western Sandpiper. Usually found in flocks, sometimes in very large numbers. Prefers open mudflats, but also found in marshes and beaches.
Identification
It is a small sandpiper, 15–18 cm (5.9-7.1 in) long and weighing around 18-51.5 g (0.6-1.8 oz). Wingspan ranges from 13.8 to 14.6 in (35-37 cm). Adults have black legs and a short, stout, straight dark bill. The body is dark grey-brown on top and white underneath. The head and neck are tinged light grey-brown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, in particular the western sandpiper; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints".
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Calidris pusilla
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
- Genus
- Calidris
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- NA, PAL : low (locally high) Arctic to subarctic tundra of far ne Palearctic and Nearctic: e Chukotskiy Pen. (ne Siberia), w, n Alaska and n Canada including most of mainland Nunavut, around Hudson and James bays and e to n Labrador, and s Canadian Arctic islands from Banks to Baffin (ne Canada)
- Non-breeding range
- MA, SA, Caribbean : subtropical to tropical coastal Neotropics: from Isthmus of Tehuantepec (sw Mexico) to far n Chile and Galapagos (e Pacific), throughout Caribbean and from n Yucatan Pen. to ne Brazil (w Atlantic)
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Great Snipe
Gallinago media
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Long-tailed Mockingbird
Mimus longicaudatus
A fairly large brown-and-white bird found in desert and dry forest in western Ecuador and western Peru. It has a long tail, black markings on the face, and white wingbars. Juvenile has spots on the breast and a shorter tail. The only mockingbird within its range. Bold and inquisitive, often perching up on a cactus, tree, or other elevated perch, but also regularly descends to the ground.
Purple-crested Turaco
Gallirex porphyreolophus
A bulky, iridescent bird clad in deep purple, blue, green, and olive washed with pink. It clambers acrobatically through riverine woodland and savanna thickets. In flight it explodes from the canopy with distinctive deep red panels in the wings. It produces a distinctive croaking “khoh-khoh-khoh-khoh….” that gets progressively louder before suddenly stopping. The similar Ross’s Turaco differs from Purple-crested Turaco by being darker overall and having a red crest and yellow face.
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