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Western Sandpiper | Calidris mauri
Alaskastrandloper | Correlimos de Alaska | Maçarico-ocidental
The Western Sandpiper breeds on the coastal plains of western and northern Alaska and the far east of Siberia and winters along the coasts of the Americas, mainly on the Pacific side. On the coasts of the guide area it is one of the most numerous sandpipers, forming flocks of hundreds to thousands of birds together with Semipalmated Sandpipers.
Voice
A high, thin cheet or kreet, higher and thinner than the call of Semipalmated Sandpiper.
Recording: Patrik Åberg — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
14–17 cm, a small sandpiper with a rather long black bill that tapers towards the tip and droops slightly, and black legs with small webs between the front toes. In non-breeding plumage plain pale grey above with dark shaft streaks and white below, with finely streaked breast sides. In breeding plumage rufous on the crown, ear coverts and scapulars, with arrow-shaped black spots on the breast and flanks. Juveniles have grey upperparts with rufous-fringed upper scapulars. In flight a narrow white wing bar and a rump with a dark central stripe. The sexes are alike; females have a clearly longer bill.
Confusion species
Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla has a shorter, straight bill with a blunt tip, is slightly browner grey in non-breeding plumage and lacks rufous scapulars as a juvenile. Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla is smaller and browner, with yellowish green legs. Dunlin Calidris alpina, a very rare vagrant, is larger, with a longer bill and a brownish grey breast. Sanderling Calidris alba is larger and whiter, with a shorter, straight bill, and feeds mainly in the surf.
Habitat
Tidal flats, estuaries, mangrove channels, lagoons, salt pans, shrimp ponds and beaches. It feeds in flocks and often probes deep into wet mud, also wading in shallow water, for small crustaceans, worms, molluscs and insect larvae. It does not breed in the guide area.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia a numerous winter visitor on the Pacific coast, scarcer on the Caribbean coast. In Ecuador a numerous winter visitor along the entire coast. In Peru a common winter visitor along the coast, most numerous in the north, rare inland. In Bolivia at most a very rare passage migrant. On the Galápagos a regular winter visitor. Breeds in western and northern Alaska and eastern Siberia and winters from the southern United States to Peru and on the Atlantic side to northern South America.
- Resident
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
From September to April on mudflats, salt pans and shrimp ponds around the Gulf of Guayaquil and on the north coast of Peru, often in large flocks; look for the long, tip-drooping bill and, in juveniles, the rufous scapulars.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The world population is large, but the species depends on a few large stopover sites along the Pacific coast, so the loss of intertidal habitat there weighs heavily.
Scientific name
Calidris mauri | (Cabanis, 1857)
Cabanis described the species in 1857 as Ereunetes Mauri; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Calidris was introduced in 1804 by Merrem. The genus name comes from Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for an unidentified grey waterside bird. The specific name honours Ernesto Mauri (1791–1836), Italian botanist. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cuba.