Curlew Sandpiper

Calidris ferrugineaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Codes: Common Name: CUSA Scientific Name: CALFER ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176660

Breeding Location:

Tundra

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Rare to casual

Egg Color:

Cream, yellow or olive with brown or black spots

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Lined with grasses and moss.

Migration:

Migratory

General

Curlew Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with mottled rufous, white, and black upperparts. Head, neck and breast are rich rufous while vent and undertail coverts are white. Bill is long and slightly decurved. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has uniformly gray upperparts, mottled gray breast, and white eye-line, and lacks rufous. Juvenile is similar to winter adult but with orange-brown wash and scaled upperparts.

Range and Habitat

Curlew Sandpiper: Breeds in Eurasia and very rarely in northern Alaska. Rare but regular migrant to the east coast, less common on west coast; spends winters mainly in the Old World. Nests on tundra; in migration stays on estuaries, lagoons, and lakes.

Breeding and Nesting

Curlew Sandpiper: Four cream, yellow, or olive eggs spotted with brown and black are laid in a ground depression on tundra. Eggs are incubated for 21 days by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Curlew Sandpiper: Diet consists of snails, worms, and insects. Forages by probing mud rapidly with its bill, usually working away from others; wades to belly-deep.

Vocalization

Curlew Sandpiper: Call is a pleasant, liquid "chirrup" or "chirrip" in flight, or a "wick-wick-wick" in alarm. Male sings while flying on breeding grounds.

Similar Species

Curlew Sandpiper: Rufous plumage is diagnostic. Dunlin has a decurved bill but lacks white rump. Stilt Sandpiper has green legs and thicker bill. Other similar-sized shorebirds lack decurved bill.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with mottled rufous, white, and black upperparts. Head, neck and breast are a rich rufous while vent, undertail coverts and underwings are white. Black bill is long and slightly decurved. The legs and feet are black. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Song: "chirrup", "chirrip", "wick-wick-wick"

● Foraging & Feeding: Curlew Sandpiper: Diet consists of snails, worms, and insects. Forages by probing mud rapidly with its bill, usually working away from others; wades to belly-deep.

● Breeding & nesting: Curlew Sandpiper: Four cream, yellow, or olive eggs spotted with brown and black are laid in a ground depression on tundra. Eggs are incubated for 21 days by the female.

● Similar species: Curlew Sandpiper: Rufous plumage is diagnostic. Dunlin has a decurved bill but lacks white rump. Stilt Sandpiper has green legs and thicker bill. Other similar-sized shorebirds lack decurved bill.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Curlew Sandpiper: Breeds in Eurasia and very rarely in northern Alaska. Rare but regular migrant to the east coast, less common on west coast; spends winters mainly in the Old World. Nests on tundra; in migration stays on estuaries, lagoons, and lakes.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationRare to casual

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight2.4 Ounces

Undertail coverts

Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Vent

Birds do not have two separate cavities for excrement and reproduction like humans do. In birds, there is one single entrance/exit that suits both functions called the vent, cloaca or anus.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America