Wikibooks: Field Guide/Birds/Calidris pusilla

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Field_Guide/Birds/Calidris_pusilla

Bird id name = Semipalmated Sandpiper latin name = Calidris pusilla level = 4 image 1 = Semipalmated sandpiper on st lucia.jpg caption 1 = Semipalmated sandpiper on St Lucia image 2 = Calidris pusilla 001.jpg caption 2 = Semipalmated Sandpiper image 3 = Semipalmated sandpiper on barbados 1 2.jpg caption 3 = Semipalmated sandpiper on Barbados description = The Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris or Erolia pusilla is a very small shorebird. Adults have black legs and a short stout straight dark bill. The body is dark grey brown on top and white underneath. The head and neck are tinged light grey brown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds in particular the Western Sandpiper these are known collectively as peeps or stints . Their breeding habitat is the southern tundra in Canada and Alaska near water. They nest on the ground. The male makes several shallow scrapes the female chooses one and adds grass and other material to line the nest. The female lays 4 eggs the male assists in incubation. After a few days the female leaves the young with the male the young feed themselves. They are long distance migrants and winter in coastal South America with some going to the southern United States. They migrate in flocks which can number in the hundreds of thousands particularly in favored feeding locations such as the Bay of Fundy and Delaware Bay. This species is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe. These birds forage on mudflats picking up food by sight and feel (bill). They mainly eat aquatic insects and crustaceans. Although very numerous these birds are highly dependent on a few key stopover habitats during their migration notably Shepody Bay an arm of the Bay of Fundy. During the months of July and August you can go to one of two information centers run by the Nature Conservancy of Canada about the shorebirds in either Johnson s Mills or Mary s point. [[Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book}}/Transcluded Modules BOOKSORTKEY ]]