Pectoral Sandpiper
Calidris melanotos
Males possess a dilatable esophagus that they inflate like a balloon to produce a deep, resonant, hollow hooting sound to attract mates.
- Scientific name
- Calidris melanotos
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Scolopacidae › Calidris
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Arctic tundra during breeding season; wet grasslands, mudflats, and freshwater wetlands during migration and wintering.
- Diet
- Invertebrates, including insect larvae, beetles, spiders, small crustaceans, and snails.
- Range
- Arctic North America, Siberia, South America, Australia
- Size
- Length: 19-23 cm, Wingspan: 38-45 cm, Weight: 50-105 g
- Lifespan
- 4 to 6 years in the wild
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Climate change altering Arctic breeding grounds, wetland drainage, and habitat loss along migration stopover corridors.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. Observe quietly from a distance of at least 30 meters using binoculars to avoid disrupting their crucial foraging. If the bird stops feeding or flushes, you are too close.
The pectoral sandpiper ( Calidris melanotos ) is a small, migratory wader that breeds in North America and Asia, wintering in South America and Oceania. It eats small invertebrates. Its nest, a hole scraped in the ground and with a thick lining, is deep enough to protect its four eggs from the cool breezes of its breeding grounds. The pectoral sandpiper is 21 cm (8.3 in) long, with a wingspan of 46 cm (18 in).
Photo: Andrew Cannizzaro, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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