Great Mud Runner
| Great Mud Runner | ||||||||||
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Great sandpiper ( Limnodromus scolopaceus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Limnodromus scolopaceus | ||||||||||
| ( Say , 1823) |
The great sandpiper ( Limnodromus scolopaceus ) is a species of bird in the snipe family . The IUCN classifies the Great Mud Runner as 
(= least concern - not endangered).
Appearance
The Great Mud Runner reaches a height of 26 to 30 centimeters. About 6 to 8 centimeters are allotted to the beak. The wingspan is 48 to 55 centimeters, the weight varies between 90 and 130 grams.
In their splendid dress , the adult birds have a chestnut-colored head. The top of the head is a little darker with lighter dashed lines, the stripe above the eyes is pale chestnut-colored, and another dark brown stripe runs from the base of the beak over the eye. The underside of the body is chestnut-colored or pale chestnut-colored, the neck and the front breast are finely dotted with dark lines, the underbust, the flanks and the underside of the tail are finely corrugated across the dark. The coat is dark brown and black, the individual feathers are lined with chestnut or reddish brown. The back, the torso and the upper tail-coverts are white and also partly dark cross-waved. The tail has dark brown or black transverse bands. In the plain dress, the Great Mud Runner is pale gray-brown on the top of the body with a striking white stripe over the eyes. The neck and front chest are faintly spotted gray-brown. The rest of the underside of the body is white. The iris is dark brown. The feet and legs are pale olive to yellow-olive.
Fledglings have a gray-brown head and neck, the top of the head and the eye stripe are dark, the over-eye stripe is white. The breast is gray, cinnamon-colored with fine brown dots, the rump and the under tail-coverts are white with dark brown spots. The coat is dark brown, the individual feathers are lined with a narrow chestnut color. The downy chicks are spotted maroon and reddish gray.
It can be confused with the little mud-runner . It was only since 1950 that the two mud-pavers were recognized as separate species. The distribution areas of the two species hardly overlap. The Great Mud Runner also has a slightly longer beak and slightly longer legs.
Distribution area
The great mudpiper is a breeding bird in the tundra of North America and Eastern Siberia , the species migrates to the southern United States and Central America in winter . It is rarely, but regularly, observed in Western Europe. The Great Mud Runner was observed a total of 216 times between 1958 and 1996. Most of the observations are young birds, which mainly reach Europe in September and October. The very similar Mudpiper is much less likely to drift to Europe.
Way of life
The great mud-runner mainly eats crustaceans, worms and snails, which it pokes out of the substrate with rapid movement and an almost perpendicular beak. In the winter months he looks for food mainly during the night. During this time, the Great Mudrunner is sociable.
Loose, small breeding colonies can be found in the breeding areas, but the common mudpipe usually breeds individually. The territorial behavior is not very pronounced in the Great Mudpiper, it often searches for food together with the Mudpipers breeding in adjacent areas. The immediate nest environment is defended a little more intensively.
According to the current state of knowledge, the Great Mudrunner enters into a monogamous seasonal marriage. The nest is built on a dry hill in wetlands. The nest is nothing more than a shallow hollow, lined with some plant material. The clutch consists of three to four eggs. These have a green, blue or olive-colored skin and always have brown spots. The breeding season is 21 to 22 days. Both parent birds are equally involved in the brood at the beginning. However, towards the end of the breeding season, the eggs are only incubated by the male parent bird. When they hatch, the chicks are very developed and leave the nest on the same day. They are led by the male parent bird. They fledge at an age of 20 to 30 days.
supporting documents
literature
- Richard Sale: A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife. Christopher Helm Publisher, London 2006, ISBN 0-7136-7039-8 .
Single receipts
- ↑ Sale, p. 203.
- ↑ Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds , Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-647-2 , p. 475.
- ↑ Sale, p. 204.
Web links
- Limnodromus scolopaceus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2014.