Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)

This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.

Upland sandpiper. Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Upland sandpiper. Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

State Status: Endangered, 1981 (possibly extirpated)
Federal Status: None
Recovery Plans: State, 1995

The upland sandpiper may be extirpated as a breeding species in Washington. It is a medium-sized sandpiper that nests on grassland in North America, and winters on the pampas of South America. There are scattered historical breeding records for eastern Washington, it may have never been abundant, and apparently was rare throughout the 20th century in Washington.  Habitat loss to development, grazing, and invasive knapweeds all may have contributed to the species’ extirpation from the state. A few birds nested in the Spokane Valley during the 1950s-1990s (McAllister 1995), with the last nesting record in 1993. The last sighting of an upland sandpiper in Spokane County was 2004. It is also apparently gone from Idaho (Mlodinow 2005).

Literature Cited

McAllister, K. R.1995. Washington state recovery plan for the upland sandpiper. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, Washington. 50 pp.

Mlodinow, S. G. 2005. Upland sandpiper. Pp. 145 in T. R. Wahl, B. Tweit, and S. G. Mlodinow, eds. Birds of Washington: status and distribution. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon.

 

Source: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2013. Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington: 2012 Annual Report. Listing and Recovery Section, Wildlife Program, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia. 251 pp.

About the Author: 
Species accounts were compiled by Derek Stinson, Gary Wiles, Gerald Hayes, Jeff Lewis, Lisa Hallock, Steve Desimone, and Joe Buchanan. Many other individuals took time from busy schedules to review species accounts or provide information or documents for this report, including WDFW district and assistant district wildlife biologists, research scientists, and people from other agencies. They include Harriet Allen, David Anderson, Hannah Anderson, Keith Aubry, Lynne Barre, Dana Base, Penny Becker, Scott Becker, Gary Bell, Gretchen Blatz, Joe Buchanan, Steve Desimone, Joe Engler, Greg Falxa, Howard Ferguson, Rich Finger, Scott Fitkin, John Fleckenstein, Eric Gardner, Joe Gaydos, Dawn Gedenberg, Gary Ivey, Lisa Hallock, Molly Hallock, Jeff Heinlen, Eric Holman, Steve Jeffries, Mary Linders, Mike Livingston, Russ Mullins, Travis Nelson, Heidi Newsome, Don Noviello, Brent Norberg, Gail Olson, Ann Potter, Scott Pearson, Leslie Robb, Elizabeth Rodrick, Ella Rowan, Lori Salzer, Chris Sato, Tammy Schmidt, Larry Schwitters, Michelle Tirhi, Laura Todd, Matt Vander Haegen, Jim Watson, and Kristin Wilkinson. Joe Higbee and Rod Gilbert allowed use of many photographs. David Speiser kindly allowed the use of his yellow-billed cuckoo photo.