Species: Calidris pusilla
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Charadriiformes
Family
Scolopacidae
Genus
Calidris
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Maçarico-Miúdo - Playero Semipalmeado, Playero Enano - bécasseau semipalmé
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Shorebirds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Charadriiformes - Scolopacidae - Calidris - C. PUSILLA and C. MAURI are often placed in the genus EREUNETES (AOU 1983).
Ecology and Life History
Migration
false - false - true - Birds wintering on the north coast of Brazil probably derive from breeding grounds in the eastern Arctic; birds on the western part of the north coast of South America and on the northern part of the Pacific coast likely come from the western sectors of the breeding grounds (Morrison and Ross 1989).
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Feeds primarily on aquatic insects; also eats mollusks, worms, and crustaceans. In spring at Delaware Bay, consumes large numbers of horseshoe crab eggs (Castro and Myers 1993, Botton et al. 1994). Runs along sand or mud snatching at food, sometimes probes for food with bill.
Reproduction Comments
Begins breeding late May or early to mid-June. Usually 4 eggs incubated by both sexes, in turn, 18-21.5 days. Young tended by both parents, can fly at 14-19 days. May have same mate in successive years. Breeding population includes some yearlings. Up to 20 nests per sq km in some areas of northern Alaska.
Ecology Comments
Average territory size 1 ha on breeding grounds in Manitoba (Gratto et al. 1985). Seen in association with least sandpiper, sanderling, and semipalmated plover. Often in large flocks.
Length
16
Weight
28
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-26
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-26
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: western and northern Alaska, northern Yukon, northrn Mackenzie, Canadian arctic islands (except northernmost), and northern Labrador south to western Alaska, east-central Mackenzie, southeastern Keewatin, northeastern Manitoba, Southampton Island, northern Ontario, northern Quebec, and coastal Labrador. Nonbreeders often spend breeding season in coastal North America south to Gulf Coast, Panama. NORTHERN WINTER: Florida and Bahamas south to West Indies, Atlantic coast of South America (to Paraguay and southern Brazil), and Pacific coast from Guatemala south to northern Chile. Accidental in Hawaii. By far the largest numbers in winter occur on the northern coast of South America, centered on Suriname and the Guianas (Morrison and Ross 1989). Delaware Bay is the most important spring stopover in the eastern U.S. (Clark et al. 1993). The Bay of Fundy is an important staging area during fall migration and is used by perhaps 1-2 million individuals (up to 50-90% of the world population) (Mawhinney et al. 1993).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

