Pectoral Sandpiper

Calidris melanotosOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Codes: Common Name: PESA Scientific Name: CALMET ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176653

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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.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper with scaled, dark brown upperparts, heavily streaked brown breast, plain white belly. Crown, eyestripe are dark brown. Faint wing-bar and black rump with white edges are visible in flight. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats. Zigzag pattern when flushed.

● Song: "churrrt", "krrrek", "tik-tik-tik"

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

● Breeding & 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.

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

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & 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.

^BreedingPromiscuous

^PopulationFairly common to common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight3.5 Ounces

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