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Pectoral Sandpiper | Calidris melanotos
Gestreepte strandloper | Correlimos Pectoral
The Pectoral Sandpiper is the most frequently found American vagrant among the waders of southern Africa. One turns up somewhere almost every year, usually alone, at the grassy margin of a freshwater dam or vlei, among Ruffs and Wood Sandpipers.
Voice
A dry, rolling krrrt or trrip, mainly on take-off, lower and harsher than the call of Curlew Sandpiper.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
19–23 cm; males are clearly larger than females. A fairly large sandpiper with a medium-length, slightly decurved dark bill with a pale yellowish-brown base and yellowish-green legs. The best feature is the densely brown-streaked breast that ends abruptly against the white belly, like a bib. The upperparts are dark brown with rufous- and white-fringed feathers, with white V-lines on the mantle in juveniles; a rufous crown and a faint pale supercilium. In flight a weak wingbar and a white rump with a broad black central stripe, creating two white ovals on either side.
Confusion species
Ruff Calidris pugnax is larger, with a smaller head, a shorter bill, scaly upperparts and no sharply demarcated breast streaking; in flight it shows more conspicuous white ovals at the tail base. Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea is slimmer, with a longer decurved bill, black legs and a wholly white rump. Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata, rarer still, has a more rufous crown, a clearer white supercilium and breast streaking that fades gradually into the flanks.
Habitat
Fresh and slightly brackish waters with vegetated, marshy margins: vleis, flooded grassland, the edges of farm dams and sewage works. It often feeds half-hidden among short grass or low waterside plants rather than on open mud.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
A few dozen records scattered across the region, most in South Africa, especially the Western Cape and the Highveld, and in Namibia and Zimbabwe; also records from Botswana and Zambia. The bulk of the population winters in South America, a smaller part in Australia. It breeds on the tundra of North America and north-eastern Siberia.
How and when to look
In the southern summer, check the grassy margins of sewage works and vleis where Ruffs feed. Look for a bird with a smaller head, a yellowish bill base and a streaked breast ending in a sharply cut-off bib. On take-off the rolling krrrt call helps.
Conservation status
Not threatened, with a large world population, although counts in North America point to a decline. In southern Africa a vagrant with no significance for the population. Records are documented by the rarities committees.
Scientific name
Calidris melanotos | (Vieillot, 1819)
Vieillot described the species in 1819 as Tringa melanotos; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Calidris was introduced in 1804 by Merrem. Calidris goes back to Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a name Aristotle used for an unidentified grey waterside bird. melanotos is from Greek melas 'black' and notos 'back', so 'black-backed'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Paraguay.