Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Calidris acuminata, is a small wader. It breeds in the boggy tundra of northeast Asia and is strongly migratory, wintering in south east Asia and Australasia. It occurs as a rare autumn migrant to North America, but in western Europe only as a very rare vagrant.

Little is known of the breeding habits of this species, although it nests on the ground, and the male has a display flight.

Breeding adults are a rich brown with darker feather centres above, and white underneath apart from a buff breast. They have a light superciliary line above the eye and a chestnut crown. In winter, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are grey above. The juveniles are brightly patterned above with rufous colouration and white mantle stripes.

This bird is similar to its relative, the Pectoral Sandpiper, within whose Asian range it breeds. It differs from that species in its breast pattern, stronger supercilium and more rufous crown. It has some similarities to the Long-toed Stint, but is much larger than that tiny stint.

These birds forage on grasslands and mudflats, like the Pectoral Sandpiper, picking up food by sight, sometimes by probing. They mainly eat insects and other invertebrates.

Reference

• Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 0-7099-2034-2