Western Sandpiper
Calidris mauri

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacide
Genus: Calidris

Audio for Species

Call

from Macaulay Library

Species Related Links

Additional Western Sandpiper Pictures

Description

Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm) Weight: 0.8-1.2 oz (22-35 g) Wingspan: 10.2-14.6 in (26-37 cm)

Winter back and wing coverts gray with narrow black centers; faint, partial gray breast band, and white underparts. The head has wispy white brow, gray crown and cheeks, Summer plumage has rufous scapulars, crown and ear coverts, black back feathers and wing coverts with white edges. The breast has black streaking and spotting and black chevrons on the flanks.

The juvenile has rufous scapulars, black-based back feathers and wing coverts with white and gray edges. They have a faint, partial gray breast band. with white underparts. The head has a wispy gray crown and pale supercilium.

 

Habitat, Range, and Feeding

Wintering and migration the Western Sandpiper hangs-out on coastal sandy or muddy beaches, lakes, ponds, mudflats and other flooded fields. They breed in the coastal sedge-dwarf tundra of Alaska. The male arrives first at the breeding sites, and most use the same territory they used the year before. During the pairing up the male builts up to six scrapes and only occasionally puts in a few leaves, like dry willow or birch for a lining, and the female picks one. The nests are scrape depressions in the ground, often under a dwarf birch tree. Once she chooses one both sexes line the scrape with sedge, lichens, and leaves; the construction is loose and flimsy. The clutch size is 3 to 5 eggs.

The diet consists of aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates; insects, spiders, worms, and bivalve mollusks. They probe or peck the sand or mud, and debris on beaches or shorelines.