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Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Calidris ferruginea

Identify the Curlew Sandpiper by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Curlew Sandpiper is an elegant, long-distance migrant sandpiper with a distinctly downcurved bill and brick-red breeding plumage. It breeds on the High Arctic tundra of Siberia and winters on coasts of Africa, southern Asia and Australasia. Outside the breeding season it gathers on tidal mudflats and saltpans. It is listed as Vulnerable due to habitat loss along its migration routes.

Did you know?

  • Males perform elaborate courtship, even showing females a “display nest”.
  • Its name ferruginea refers to its rust-coloured breeding plumage.

About the species

Identification

A medium-sized, slender sandpiper with a longish, downcurved bill and a fairly long neck. In breeding plumage the underparts are deep brick-red; in flight it shows clear white wing bars and a white rump. It resembles Stilt Sandpiper, but Curlew Sandpiper's legs are shorter and darker and its wing bars more distinct; compared with Dunlin it is longer-legged with a more strongly curved bill and a white rump.

Family

Scolopacidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

red, brown, grey, white

About the habitat

Breeds on Arctic tundra near pools; outside the breeding season coastal mudflats, lagoons, estuaries and saltpans, and on migration also inland lake shores and flooded fields.

Diet

Small invertebrates such as marine worms, tiny bivalves, crustaceans and insect larvae; on the breeding grounds insects.

Behaviour

Highly migratory, often in flocks with other waders on passage. Forages by steady probing in soft mud or shallow water, often wading deeper than Dunlin. Courtship includes aerial chases and ground displays; first-year birds usually stay in the wintering areas. Its breeding success is higher in good lemming years, when predators focus on rodents.

Sources

Photo: Imran Shah from Islamabad, Pakistan, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) (44855173205).jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curlew_sandpiper

See also