Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Calidris acuminata - Bécasseau à queue pointue

Systematics
  • Order 
    :

    Charadriiformes

  • Family
    :

    Scolopacidés

  • Genus
    :

    Calidris

  • Species
    :

    acuminata

Descriptor

Horsfield, 1821

Biometrics
  • Size
    : 22 cm
  • Wingspan
    : 36 à 43 cm.
  • Weight
    : 39 à 114 g
Longevity

6 years

Geographic range

Distribution

Identification

Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult plum. breeding
Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult plum. post breeding

In breeding plumage, exceptional in Europe, the upper feathers are dark brown with broad reddish and off-white edging. Red cap. Light eyebrow widening in front of the eye. Neck and top of the chest heavily spotted with brown. Bottom of the chest, top of the belly and flanks marked with dark chevrons. In winter plumage, the bird appears more grayish, the neck and chest are less intensely spotted and the chevron pattern on the belly and flanks is practically invisible. The cap and eyebrow are still clearly visible.
The juveniles appear red (cap, neck, top of the chest, back). The sides and front of the neck are marked with thin dark streaks that are not very noticeable.
The color of the legs varies from yellow to yellow-olive or grayish olive. The beak, barely the same length as the head, is very slightly curved downwards. It is a fairly pale gray-brown.
This species is very close to the Spotted Sandpiper (see this sheet) which has a longer bill (yellowish base) and neck and whose chest is a more intense red in all plumages and, above all, in which this color is clearly separated from the white belly. In flight, the two species are very similar. The fingers protrude very slightly from the tail of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, not in the Spotted Sandpiper.

Subspecific information monotypic species

Foreign names

  • Bécasseau à queue pointue,
  • Correlimos acuminado,
  • pilrito-acuminado,
  • Spitzschwanz-Strandläufer,
  • hegyesfarkú partfutó,
  • Siberische Strandloper,
  • Piovanello siberiano,
  • spetsstjärtad snäppa,
  • Spisshalesnipe,
  • pobrežník ostrochvostý,
  • jespák klínoocasý,
  • Spidshalet Ryle,
  • suippopyrstösirri,
  • territ acuminat,
  • Ósatíta,
  • biegus ostrosterny,
  • smailastes šņibītis,
  • ostrorepi prodnik,
  • Острохвостый песочник,
  • Kedidi ekor-panjang,
  • ウズラシギ,
  • 尖尾滨鹬,
  • นกชายเลนกระหม่อมแดง,
  • 尖尾濱鷸,

Voice song and cries

Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult plum. breeding

At take-off, a sharp trit-trit. Also a more melodious trrrt wiitiit sound reminiscent of certain cries from the Barn Swallow.

Habitat

Bécasseau à queue pointue
plum. post breeding

During reproducting, the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper frequents very particular habitats, like wet tundra in low hilly terraines with sedges and mosses. Outside of its reproducting grounds, it becomes very ecletic and frequents almost all types of wet habitats, be they fresh, salty or brackish.

Behaviour character trait

Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult plum. post breeding

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper collects its food without stopping to walk, pecking from the ground or in shallow water. It often moves through the grassy vegetation at the edges of water. This species can be very trusting of humans.

Flight

Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult

The flight is direct and swift.

Dietfeeding habits

Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has a very varied diet including insects, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, and small seeds.

Reproduction nesting

Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult plum. breeding

Reproduction is sometimes communal. Spectacular and noisy nuptial parades. The males emit crisp crackles that are not present in any other sharp-tailed sandpiper.
The nest is well hidden in the low vegetation. There are usually 4 eggs laid, which the female incubates alone while the male leaves the territory before they hatch.

Geographic range

Bécasseau à queue pointue
juvenile

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has a restricted distribution area, located in the extreme north of central-eastern Siberia. The species winters from Papua New Guinea to New Zealand and New Caledonia. Migrations occur on a very broad front from Lake Baikal to Japan. About fifty individuals were seen in Europe, of which about half in the British Isles. In France, up to 2002, only five observations have been recorded in Vendée (1972), Camargue (1999), Jura (2000), Ile-et-Vilaine and Pyrénées-Atlantiques (2001). It appears that these were individuals who had associated with Spotted Sandpipers during their crossing of North America and then the Atlantic.

Threats - protection

Bécasseau à queue pointue
adult plum. transition
IUCN conservation status
Extinct
Threatened
Least
concern
Extinc
in the Wild
Near
threatened
Not
evaluated
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC NE

This species does not seem to be threatened, but it is not known what the consequences of climate change may be on its environment. Its numbers are estimated to be around 160,000 individuals.

Sources of information

Other sources of interest

QRcode Bécasseau à queue pointueSpecification sheet created on 30/07/2023 by
Translation by AI Oiseaux.net
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