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Australian Wildlife

  Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata)





Sharp-tailed Sandpiper | Calidris acuminata photo
Calidris acuminata, Changhua County, Taiwan

Image by Alnus - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper | Calidris acuminata photo
Calidris acuminata, Changhua County, Taiwan

Image by Alnus - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







BIRD FACTS

Description
The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is a brownish grey wading bird. It has a reddish brown on top of the head and a white face with darker band through the eye. It is heavily marked with dark and light pattern. The breeding plumage is richer brown with more mottling on the chest and belly. The belly is whiter in the non-breeding season. Juvenile birds have buff brown breast and white belly. It is similar to a number of other sandpipers - the chestnut head is one of the distinguishing features.

Size
21cm

Habitat
Breeds in the tundra. Winters on beaches, mudflats, wet grasslands, margins of freshwater wetlands

Food
insects, crustaceans, molluscs

Breeding
nets in a hollow on the ground.

Range
Breeds in the tundra of northern Asia. It spends winter in south east Asia (including Papua New Guinea, Indonesia), New Zealand and Australia. It can be found around the Australian coast and inland wetlands.

distribution map showing range of Calidris acuminata 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:acuminata
Common Name:Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Relatives in same Genus
  Sanderling (C. alba)
  Dunlin (C. alpina)
  Baird's Sandpiper (C. bairdii)
  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)