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Australian Wildlife

  Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)





Baird's Sandpiper | Calidris bairdii photo
Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)

Image by USFWS - License: Public Domain.    (view image details)







BAIRD'S SANDPIPER FACTS

Description
Baird's Sandpiper is a small wader. It has brown back and wings. The head and chest are light brown with dark streaks. It has a black bill and dark coloured legs. The underside is whitish. Non-breeding plumage is more grey brown. Males and females are similar in both breeding and non-breeding plumage. In its normal habitat it is seen in flocks, but in Australia it is a vagrant and if seen, will most likely be seen as an individual bird. It is similar to several other sandpipers - refer to other sources for more detailed description of differences.

Size
15cm - 17cm

Habitat
breeds on arctic tundra. Winters on coast, mudflats

Food
insects, crustaceans

Breeding
nests on the ground

Range
Baird's Sandpiper breeds in North America and northern Asia and migrates to South America in winter. It is a vagrant to Australia with only a small number of sightings

distribution map showing range of Calidris bairdii in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Family:Scolopacidae
Genus:Calidris
Species:bairdii
Common Name:Baird's Sandpiper

Relatives in same Genus
  Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (C. acuminata)
  Sanderling (C. alba)
  Dunlin (C. alpina)
  Red Knot (C. canutus)
  Curlew Sandpiper (C. ferruginea)
  White-rumped Sandpiper (C. fuscicollis)
  Pectoral Sandpiper (C. melanotos)
  Little Stint (C. minuta)
  Long-toed Stint (C. subminuta)
  Great Knot (C. tenuirostris)