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PECTORAL SANDPIPER FACTS |
Description
The Pectoral Sandpiper is a wading bird with fairly long bill that has slight downwards curve. The legs are yellowish green and the bill is dark with yellow at the base. The back is reddish brown and black with two thin white stripes along the back. The chest is gray brown streaked, and underside is white. The rump and centre of tail is dark. The head is greyish brown with brown cap and brown stripe from eye to bill. Males and females are similar. The breeding plumage is similar to the non-breeding but with darker brown markings. Juvenile birds are similar to adult with finer chest streaks.
Size
22cm
Habitat
breeds in coastal tundra. Winters in freshwater wetlands, saltwater wetlands, wet grassland, mudflats, lake shores.
Food
insects and other invertebrates.
Breeding
Nest is a scrape on the ground. Lays four eggs.
Range
The Pectoral Sandpiper is a fairly rare migrant to Australia. It breeds in Alaska, northern Canada and northern Siberia. It winters in South America, south east Asia and South Pacific.
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Charadriiformes | | Family: | Scolopacidae | | Genus: | Calidris | | Species: | melanotos | | Common Name: | Pectoral Sandpiper |
Relatives in same Genus
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (C. acuminata)
Sanderling (C. alba)
Dunlin (C. alpina)
Baird's Sandpiper (C. bairdii)
Red Knot (C. canutus)
Curlew Sandpiper (C. ferruginea)
White-rumped Sandpiper (C. fuscicollis)
Little Stint (C. minuta)
Long-toed Stint (C. subminuta)
Great Knot (C. tenuirostris)
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