Semipalmated Sandpiper

IDENTIFICATION: A small, black-legged shorebird, similar to the Western Sandpiper, but without the rufous back feathers in breeding plumage. The bill tends to be shorter and straighter than the Western Sandpiper's bill. The name of the bird refers to the fact that the toes have partial webbing between them, but like many bird names, this identifying anatomical characteristic is of use in museums and rarely in the field. Length: 13-15 cm.; weight: 21-32 g. Audio (R. Rodrφguez Mojica).

VOICE: The flight call is a low-pitched "cherk", lower pitched than the Western SandpiperÆs call note.

HABITAT: Breeds in the Arctic tundra of Canada and Alaska, and forages on exposed tidal flats, farm pools, and shallow mangrove lagoons in winter and on migration.

HABITS: The Semipalmated Sandpiper forms flocks to feed on insect larvae, worms and molluscs in saltmarsh and freshwater pools. Even during the winter, birds chase each other to jockey for the best feeding position in a flock. This species forms monogamous pairs on the breeding grounds in the Arctic. The male usually returns to the same tundra territory year after year and patrols the breeding area by flying low over the tundra, making a noise like a motorboat. Every 3-7 years when the local population of rodents crashes, predators such as foxes and jaegers focus on many species of sandpipers for food, and the sandpipersÆ nesting success will drop dramatically. Both sexes have two incubation patches on their breasts to transfer heat to the four eggs during the 20-day incubation period. Soon after the eggs hatch, most females abandon the chicks to the care of the male. The male leads the chicks to feeding areas and makes a new nest scrape at night to brood the chicks. As in most sandpipers, the caretaker adult spends 70% of the time in the first week guarding or brooding the young and only 30% of the time feeding himself. Those proportions are reversed after the first week when the chicks are better able to maintain their body temperature and watch out for predators. Young fledge 16-19 days after hatching. In the fall migration, 75-94% of the worldÆs population of Semipalmated Sandpipers stages at CanadaÆs Bay of Fundy to put on extra fat before migrating thousands of kilometers over open ocean to the West Indies and South America. Like many birds, this species orients by stars and magnetic fields during migration.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: A common migrant and winter visitor. Its population declined during the market hunting days of the late 19^th Century, but has recovered well. Staging areas during migration are important for its long-term conservation.

RANGE: Breeds in the Arctic tundra of Alaska, Canada and northeastern Siberia. It winters primarily in Surinam and French Guíana, but also in western Central America, Peru, the West Indies, and Atlantic coastal South America south to Uruguay. A regular location to find this species is the mudflats near Cabo Rojo

TAXONOMY: CHARADRIIFORMES; SCOLOPACIDAE; Scolopacinae

Photo: B. Hallett

Photo: R. Rodrφguez Mojica

References

Alerstam, T., G. A. Gudmundsson, M. Green, and A. Hedenstrom. 2001. Migration along orthodromic sun compass routes by Arctic birds. Science 291:300-303.

Bent, A.C. 1927. Life histories of North American shore birds, part 1. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 142. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1962).

Borowik, O. A. and D. A. McLennan. 1999. Phylogenetic patterns of parental care in calidridine sandpipers. Auk 116(4):1107-1117.

Collazo, J.A., B.A. Harrington, J. Grear, and J.A. Colón. 1995. Abundance and distribution of shorebirds at the Cabo Rojo salt flats, Puerto Rico. J. Field Ornithol. 66:424-438.

del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1996. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Gratto-Trevor, C. L. 1992. Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla). No. 6 in The birds of North America (F. Gill, A. Poole, and P. Stettenheim, eds.). Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, PA, and Am. Ornithol. Union, Washington, D.C.

Grear, J. and Collazo, J. A. 1999. Habitat use by migrant shorebirds in a tropical salt flat system. Vida Silvestre Neotropical 7(1):15-22.

Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater. 1986. Shorebirds: an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

Paulson, D. 1993. Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest. Univ Washington, Seattle.

Pfister, C., M.J. Kasprzyk, and B.A Harrington. 1998. Body-fat levels and annual return in migrating Semipalmated Sandpipers. Auk 155:904-915.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Saliva, J.E. 1994. Vieques y su fauna: Vieques wildlife manual. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Boquerón, PR.

Tripp, K. J. and J.A. Collazo. 1997. Non-breeding territoriality of Semipalmated Sandpipers. Wilson Bull. 109:630-642.

Veit, R.R. and L. Jonsson. 1984. Field identification of the smaller sandpipers within the genus Calidris. American Birds 38(5):853-876.

Wunderle, J.M., Jr., R.B. Waide, and J. Fernández. 1989. Seasonal abundance of shorebirds in the Jobos estuary in southern Puerto Rico. J. Field Ornithol. 60:329-339.

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Spanish text

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