Bird of the Month - October 2004
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Calidris acuminata
The fall migration brings special rewards for those who look at shorebirds. Juveniles in bright plumage can be seen south of Arctic breeding sites only at this time. Such species as Baird’s Sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs pass through the Redwood Region in greatest numbers then. Following the peak of abundance for those species is the period of six weeks or so during which Sharp-tailed Sandpipers sometimes show up. These attractive waders breed in northeast Asia. Although virtually the entire population winters in and around Australia, a very few wander southeast along the Pacific coast of North America from Alaska to California. These birds are almost all juveniles, hatched several months earlier and headed who knows where. While many may ultimately steer a bold course offshore toward the southwestern Pacific Ocean basin, a few may winter undetected in the Western Hemisphere. This is suggested by rare spring sightings of alternate-plumaged adults in California and elsewhere in North America.
Late September through October is prime time to search for a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. This is the season when most Western Sandpipers have departed, Pectoral Sandpipers stalk along the grassy edges of mudflats, and the Dunlin have arrived in numbers. In his regional work Northwestern California Birds (1996), Stan Harris noted that 15 reports of Sharp-tails from the area initially took place in September, 12 in October, and 1 in November. The earliest sighting for northwestern California has been 7 Sep, but even in Oregon and Washington they are seldom found so early.
Birders on the lookout for this species would do well to concentrate their searches at exposed mudflats supporting Pectoral Sandpipers, dowitchers, and yellowlegs. Although the great majority of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers seen south of Alaska have been in coastal areas, at least a few show up somewhere well inland each fall, and they are not averse to using freshwater settings. Dairy ‘slop ponds’ occasionally attract them. Most, however, are encountered at brackish or salt marshes within a few miles of the outer coast. Salicornia is often present in marshes they prefer. Lake Earl/Talawa and Eel River Wildlife Area are two well-known sites for these birds in northwestern California.
The species most closely resembling Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is Pectoral Sandpiper, and many inexperienced birders have rushed into misidentifying the latter species as the former! The juvenile Sharp-tail may be distinguished from like-aged Pectoral (most of our Pecs are also juvies) by the following points. Rather than being heavily marked all the way across with dark brown streaks on a whitish ground color, the upper breast of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is a bright, ‘peachy’ buff with only slight streaking at the sides. No abrupt delineation in pattern occurs at mid-breast. The cap is rich reddish-chestnut, contrasting more than that of the Pectoral. A distinct white eye-ring is often noticed, and the white line over the eye is more pronounced than in the Pec, flaring a bit behind the eye. The bill averages just a tad shorter than that of the Pec, and the crown may appear flattened. Overall, the Sharp-tailed seems brighter than the Pectoral owing to richer reddish edges to many of the feathers of the upperparts. Remember: if it doesn’t really look like a different species, ask yourself, is there a good reason for that?