Baird's sandpiper

Baird's sandpiper
In Iceland
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Scolopacidae
Genus:	Calidris (disputed)
Species:	C. bairdii
Binomial name
Calidris bairdii Coues, 1861
File:Bairds Sandpiper Range.png
Global range     Year-Round Range     Summer Range     Winter Range
Synonyms
Actodromas bairdii Erolia bairdii

The Baird's sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) is a small shorebird. It is among those calidrids sometimes separated in Erolia.

Description

Adults have black legs and a short, straight, thin dark bill. They are dark brown on top and mainly white underneath with a black patch on the rump. The head and breast are light brown with dark streaks. In winter plumage, this species is paler brownish gray above. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints".

One of the best identification features is the long wings, which extend beyond the tail when the bird is on the ground. Only the white-rumped sandpiper also shows this, and that bird can be distinguished by its namesake feature.

Standard Measurements
length	7–7.6 in (180–190 mm)
weight	38 g (1.3 oz)
wingspan	17 in (430 mm)
wing	117.6–125.3 mm (4.63–4.93 in)
tail	50–57 mm (2.0–2.2 in)
culmen	20.5–24.5 mm (0.81–0.96 in)
tarsus	21.3–24.2 mm (0.84–0.95 in)

Ecology

File:Baird's Sandpiper chicks.jpg

Chicks on the ground, camouflaged

Baird's sandpipers breed in the northern tundra from eastern Siberia to western Greenland. They nest on the ground, usually in dry locations with low vegetation.

They are a long distance migrant, wintering in South America. This species is a rare vagrant to western Europe.

Baird's sandpiper might have hybridized with the buff-breasted sandpiper.

These birds forage by moving about mudflats, picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects, also some small crustaceans.

This bird was named after Spencer Fullerton Baird, a 19th-century naturalist.

External links

• An online identification article covering this species and other small calidrids at surfbirds.com
• Calidris bairdii on Avibase
• Baird's Sandpiper Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Baird's Sandpiper videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
• Baird's Sandpiper photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Interactive range map of Calidris bairdii at IUCN Red List maps