Black sandpiper
| Black sandpiper | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sandpiper in a simple dress |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Calidris himantopus | ||||||||||
| ( Bonaparte , 1826) |
The sandpiper ( Calidris himantopus ) is a Nearctic bird from the sandpiper family . Its taxonomic assignment is controversial, it is mainly assigned to the genus Calidris , but some authors put it in the monotypical genus Micropalama . However, even on the basis of the nucleotide sequence, it cannot be determined which classifications are justified. Here the classification of the IUCN in the genus of sandpipers is followed.
The IUCN classifies the purple sandpiper as harmless ( least concern ), the population is estimated at 820,000 sexually mature individuals.
Appearance
The purple sandpiper reaches a body length of 18 to 22 centimeters. About four centimeters are allotted to the beak. The wingspan is 43 to 48 centimeters. The weight varies between 50 and 70 grams.
In the splendid dress , the sandpipers have a whitish head with a brown dashed top of the head. A white stripe runs from the base of the beak above the eye to the ear patches. The ear patches themselves are maroon. A second brown stripe runs underneath from the base of the beak to the eye. The underside of the body is white, the chest is dashed in dark brown, while the belly and rump are dark brown across. The coat is dark brown, the individual feathers are lined with narrow whitish. Individual feathers on the top of the body also have a reddish maroon hem. The trunk and upper tail-ceiling are whitish, the central tail feathers are dark gray, the lateral tail feathers a little lighter.
In the plain dress , the chestnut-colored areas on the head are missing and the top of the body is duller. The bird then appears more gray-brown. The beak, which is turned down slightly, is dark gray. The iris is dark brown. The legs and feet are greenish-yellow.
Fledglings have a pale reddish brown head, neck, and reddish brown chest. The top of the head, the eye stripe and the ear covers are a little darker. The underside of the body is white, the coat is brown with broad, light-colored feather hems. The chicks are spotted brown and black on the top of their bodies. Individual down feathers have a whitish tip. The underside of the body is pale reddish brown.
Distribution area
The purple sandpiper occurs only in the Nearctic. It breeds sporadically in northern Alaska to Bathurst Inlet and in the south of the Victoria Island . Breeding areas are also found in the southwest of Hudson Bay . It prefers the humid tundra as a habitat, but occurs on the Victoria Island also on drier tundra. It is a migratory bird that migrates to South America in the winter months.
Way of life
The purple sandpiper mainly eats invertebrates, which it picks up from the surface. Occasionally, however, it pokes for food with its beak. To a small extent, it also eats seeds.
In the winter months the sandpiper lives mostly socially, while it is territorial during the breeding season. Black sandpipers are monogamous, the pair bond presumably only exists for one reproductive period. The nest is a flat hollow, scratched by the male, which is covered with plant material. The clutch consists of four eggs. These are olive in color with noticeable dark spots. The breeding season is 20 days, both parent birds are involved in the breeding. The chicks are fleeing nests who are fledged and led by both parent birds. The young birds fledge at around 18 days. They reach sexual maturity in their second year of life.
supporting documents
literature
- Richard Sale: A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife. Christopher Helm Publisher, London 2006, ISBN 0-7136-7039-8 .
Web links
- BirdLife factsheet about the sandpiper
- Calidris himantopus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
Single receipts
- ^ Gavin H. Thomas, Matthew A. Wills, Tamás Székely: A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny. In: BMC Evol. Biol . 4, 2004, p. 28. doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2148-4-28 (PDF full text) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Supplementary Material) ( Memento of the original dated August 2, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ BirdLife Factsheet on the Sandpiper , accessed December 18, 2010.
- ^ R. Sale: A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife. 2006, p. 202.
