Bird name:

Pectoral Sandpiper

Calidris melanotos

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Code 4

PESA

Code 6

CALMET

ITIS

176653

Breeding Location:

Marshes, Pools, grassy

Breeding Type:

Promiscuous

Breeding Population:

Fairly common to common

Egg Color:

White to olive buff blotched with dark brown

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

19 - 23

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Leaves and grasses.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Pectoral Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with scaled, dark brown upperparts, heavily streaked brown breast, and plain white belly. Crown and eyestripe are dark brown. Faint wing-bar and black rump with white edges are visible in flight. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has pale buff, heavily streaked breast.

Range and Habitat

Pectoral Sandpiper: Breeds on arctic tundra from Alaska to Hudson Bay; also found in Siberia. Spends winters in South America. Preferred habitats include marshes and grassy pools.

Breeding and Nesting

Pectoral Sandpiper: Four white to olive buff eggs blotched with dark brown are laid in a cup of grass and leaves hidden on the ground. Female incubates the eggs for 21 to 23 days.

Foraging and Feeding

Pectoral Sandpiper: Feeds mainly on insects, also eats small crustaceans, seeds, and spiders.

Vocalization

Pectoral Sandpiper: Call is a rich, low "churrrt", "krrrek", or "tik-tik-tik." The male uses an inflatable air sac to vocalize during courtship displays.

Similar Species

Pectoral Sandpiper: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has paler breast and rufous-brown crown. Other sandpipers lack the strongly striped brown breast.

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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.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

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