Baird's sandpiper
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Baird's sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) is a small shorebird. It is among those Calidris species which were formerly sometimes included in the genus Erolia, which was subsumed into the genus Calidris in 1973.<ref name = "Ryser"/> The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The English name and specific bairdii commemorate Spencer Fullerton Baird, 19th-century naturalist and assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.<ref name=job>Template:Cite book</ref>
Description
Adults have black legs and a short, straight, thin dark bill. They are dark brown on top and mainly white underneath with a black patch on the rump. The head and breast are light brown with dark streaks. In winter plumage, this species is paler brownish grey above. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints".
One of the best identification features is the long wings, which extend beyond the tail when the bird is on the ground. Only the white-rumped sandpiper also shows this, and that bird can be distinguished by its namesake white rump patch.
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Ecology
Baird's sandpiper breeds in the northern tundra from far eastern Siberia to western Greenland.<ref name="Hoyo"/> They nest on the ground, usually in dry locations with low vegetation.
It is a long-distance migrant, wintering in western and southern South America, from Peru to as far south as Tierra del Fuego. This species is a rare vagrant to western Europe.<ref name="Hoyo"/> It breeds on barren high arctic coasts and hills, and on migration and in winter, it regularly uses lake shores and sparse grassland at extreme high altitudes (up to 4,700 m) in the Andes.<ref name="Hoyo"/>
Baird's sandpiper might have hybridized with the buff-breasted sandpiper.Template:Cn
These birds forage by moving about mudflats, picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects, also some small crustaceans.<ref name="Hoyo"/>
References
External links
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- North American Peeps: A Different Look at an Old Problem (identification article covering this species and other small calidrids) Template:Webarchive at surfbirds.com Template:Webarchive
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- Baird's Sandpiper Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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- Template:Xeno-canto species
- Template:Field guide birds of the world