Stilt Sandpiper

Photo by jourdaj
Point Mouillee State Game Area, Monroe, Michigan, USA, July 2006

Calidris himantopus

Micropalama himantopus

Identification

18-23 cm (7-9 in)

• Long, yellowish-green legs
• Long neck
• Long bill, slightly drooping at the tip
• Grey tail
• Wings plain
• White supercilium
  

Breeding plumage heavily barred on the underside, with dark blotches on the back, and chestnut cheek patch; rump mottled dark on white.
Nonbreeding plumage all gray on back with lighter belly; rump white.
Juvenile browner above, with dark mantle feathers fringed red-brown and wing coverts fringed whitish giving a 'scaly' appearance; buffy breast grading into white belly; rump white.

Flight

Plain upperwing with no obvious wing bars; underwing with white axillaries.

Similar Species

Lesser Yellowlegs, Curlew Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper.

Distribution

Two birds molting into breeding plumage on spring passage. The left bird is at a more advanced stage of molt. Note partially-webbed toes on right foot of the right bird.
Photo by Chaiyan
Polk City Wildlife Area, central Iowa, May 2004

Breeds on tundra close to the Arctic Sea coasts of northern Alaska, northern Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, and the Hudson Bay shore of Manitoba. On migration on open freshwater pools throughout North and northern South America, though scarce west of the Great Plains. Winters in South America from Peru to northern Argentina; a few also winter in Florida and southern California.

Vagrant to Europe, including the British Isles, mostly adults in late summer.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

The Stilt Sandpiper was formerly placed in the genus Micropalama by most authorities, but this treatment was found to leave the genus Calidris paraphyletic.^[2]

Habitat

Salt marshes, mudflats. Sedge meadows.

Behaviour

Often wades in deep water, often mixing with other Calidris species or with Long-billed Dowitchers and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Breeding

It nests on the ground, 3-4 eggs are laid.

Diet

Juvenile
Photo by eastwood
Iona, Richmond British Columbia, August 2007

The diet includes insects and other invertebrates.

Vocalisation

Flight call: recalls Curlew Sandpiper's trrrp.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Stilt Sandpiper. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Stilt_Sandpiper

External Links

Search for photos of Stilt Sandpiper in the gallery

Search for videos of Stilt Sandpiper on BirdForum TV