Roadless Areas
Home/Species/ Western Sandpiper

Calidris mauri

(Cabanis, 1857)

Western Sandpiper

G5Secure Found in 30 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104028
Element CodeABNNF11050
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderCharadriiformes
FamilyScolopacidae
GenusCalidris
Other Common Names
Bécasseau d'Alaska (FR) Playero Occidental (ES)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
C. pusilla and C. mauri are often placed in the genus ereunetes (AOU 1983).
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-04-07
Change Date1996-11-26
Edition Date2014-08-29
Edition AuthorsJue, Dean K.
Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences> 300
Rank Reasons
Global population size is estimated at about 3.5 million birds.
Range Extent Comments
BREEDS: islands in Bering Sea, along coasts of western and northern Alaska, northeastern Siberia. Nonbreeding birds spend breeding season south to Panama. NORTHERN WINTER: coastal California and North Carolina south along both coasts, through West Indies, to Peru and Surinam.
Occurrences Comments
Based on a population size estimate of 3.5 million (Morrison, et. al. 2006), there should be 80 or more EOs.
Threat Impact Comments
Although this species is still common, this species is listed as a species of highest concern by the US and Canada owing to its restricted breeding range, large aggregations during migration and wintering periods means that a single deleterious event can impact a large percentage of the population, long-distance migration make it more vulnerable to climate change, and coastal wetland impacts by human activities (Franks, Land, and Wilson, 2014).
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Nonbreeding: mudflats, beaches, shores of lakes and ponds, shallow lagoons, artificial salt ponds, and flooded fields; various coastal habitats with flat or gently sloping muddy, sandy, or gravelly shores; less often inland at pond edges, rain pools, wet fields (Stiles and Skutch 1989). Breeds coastally on sedge-dwarf tundra, on hummocks surrounded by marsh. Nests on the ground in a shallow depression, lined with leaves, lichen, and other plant material. Strong tendency to nest in same area in successive years.

Ecology

Nonbreeding: forages regularly in large flocks.

Reproduction

Breeding begins late May (Harrison 1978). Both sexes, in turn, incubate 4 eggs for 18-19 days (Terres 1980). Nestlings precocial and downy. Young tended by both parents. Up to 500-700 pairs per sq km near Barrow, Alaska.
Terrestrial Habitats
TundraSand/dune
Palustrine Habitats
TEMPORARY POOLRiparian
Other Nations (2)
United StatesN5B,N5N
ProvinceRankNative
Navajo NationS5MYes
AlabamaS5NYes
IllinoisSNAYes
OregonSNAYes
WyomingS4NYes
TexasS5Yes
LouisianaS5NYes
North CarolinaS4NYes
ColoradoS5NYes
New JerseyS4NYes
OhioSNAYes
ArkansasSNAYes
New MexicoS4NYes
KansasS3NYes
Rhode IslandS3NYes
KentuckySNAYes
IowaSNAYes
CaliforniaSNAYes
MissouriSNAYes
North DakotaSNAYes
New HampshireSNAYes
DelawareSNAYes
NebraskaSNRNYes
VirginiaSNRNYes
PennsylvaniaS2MYes
ArizonaS2M,S1NYes
UtahS2Yes
MassachusettsS3NYes
GeorgiaS5Yes
New YorkSNRNYes
South CarolinaS4NYes
HawaiiSNAYes
NevadaS5MYes
District of ColumbiaS1NYes
MontanaSNAYes
IndianaSNAYes
MichiganSNRNYes
South DakotaSNAYes
FloridaS4NYes
MarylandSNAYes
IdahoS3MYes
MississippiS4NYes
OklahomaS3NYes
MaineS2NYes
TennesseeS4NYes
AlaskaS5BYes
West VirginiaSNAYes
WisconsinSNAYes
WashingtonS4NYes
ConnecticutSNAYes
CanadaN1N,N4M
ProvinceRankNative
British ColumbiaS4M,S4NYes
Yukon TerritoryS1MYes
AlbertaSUMYes
OntarioSNAYes
QuebecS3MYes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
11 - Climate change & severe weatherPervasive (71-100%)UnknownLow (long-term)
11.1 - Habitat shifting & alterationPervasive (71-100%)UnknownLow (long-term)

—

Roadless Areas (30)
Alaska (17)
AreaForestAcres
Chugach-12Chugach National Forest8,116
Chugach-13Chugach National Forest13,337
Copper River WetlandsChugach National Forest85,972
Fidalgo-GravinaChugach National Forest257,968
MadanTongass National Forest68,553
Mansfield PeninsulaTongass National Forest54,991
Middle KruzofTongass National Forest14,724
North BaranofTongass National Forest314,089
North KruzofTongass National Forest33,146
North WrangellTongass National Forest8,091
Port AlexanderTongass National Forest120,681
RedoubtTongass National Forest68,347
Sheridan GlacierChugach National Forest224,683
Sitka UrbanTongass National Forest112,003
South KruzofTongass National Forest55,193
Upper SitukTongass National Forest16,789
Yakutat ForelandsTongass National Forest323,648
California (3)
AreaForestAcres
Fox MountainLos Padres National Forest52,072
Glass MountainInyo National Forest52,867
WoolstaffSequoia National Forest41,445
Montana (1)
AreaForestAcres
Cube Iron - SilcoxLolo National Forest36,998
Oregon (5)
AreaForestAcres
HellholeUmatilla National Forest65,679
Mt. BaileyUmpqua National Forest18,401
TahkenitchSiuslaw National Forest5,799
TenmileSiuslaw National Forest10,818
WoahinkSiuslaw National Forest5,309
Pennsylvania (1)
AreaForestAcres
Tracy RidgeAllegheny National Forest9,034
Utah (2)
AreaForestAcres
Bunker CreekDixie National Forest7,474
WellsvilleWasatch-Cache National Forest1,717
Wyoming (1)
AreaForestAcres
Wilderness Study AreaTarghee National Forest51,961
References (36)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  4. BirdLife International. (2013-2014). IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on various dates in 2013 and 2014. http://www.birdlife.org/
  5. Braun, M. J., D. W. Finch, M. B. Robbins, and B. K. Schmidt. 2000. A field checklist of the birds of Guyana. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  6. Castro, I. and A. Phillips. 1996. A guide to the birds of the Galapagos Islands. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
  7. Franks, Samantha, David B. Lank, and W. Herbert Wilson. 2014. Western Sandpiper (<i>Calidris mauri</i>). The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, ed.). Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca. Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.bnaproxy.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/090/doi:10.2173/bna.90.
  8. Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp.
  9. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  10. Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater. 1986. Shorebirds: an identification guide to the waders of the world. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
  11. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  12. Jehl, J. R., Jr. 1973. Breeding biology and systematic relationships of the stilt sandpiper. Wilson Bulletin 85:115-147.
  13. Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp.
  14. Knopf, F.L. 1996. Mountain Plover (<i>Charadrius montanus</i>). In A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The Birds of North America, No. 211. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC. 16 pp.
  15. Knopf, F.L., and J.R. Rupert. 1996. Productivity and movements of mountain plovers breeding in Colorado. Wilson Bulletin 108:28-35.
  16. Morrison, R.I.G. 1993/1994. Shorebird population status and trends in Canada. Bird Trends (3):3-5. Canadian Wildlife Service.
  17. Morrison, R.I.G., McCaffery, B.J., Gill, R.E., Skagen, S.K., Jones, S.K., Page, G.W., Gratto-Trevor, C.L., and Andres, B.A. 2006. Population estimates of North American shorebirds, 2006. Waders Study Group Bulletin 111: 67-85.
  18. Morrison, R. I. G., R. E. Gill, Jr., B. A. Harrington, S. Skagen, G. W. Page, C. L. Gratto-Trevor, and S. M. Haig. 2001. Estimates of shorebird populations in North America. Occasional Paper Number 104, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON. 64 pages.
  19. Nol, E., and M. S. Blanken. 1999. Semipalmated Plover (<i>Charadrius semipalmatus</i>). No. 444 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, eds. The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 24pp.
  20. Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.
  21. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  22. Peterson, R.T. 1980b. A field guide to the birds of eastern and central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
  23. Peterson, R.T. 1990b. A field guide to western birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
  24. Poole, A. F. and F. B. Gill. 1992. The birds of North America. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. and The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.
  25. Pratt, H. D., P. L. Bruner, and D. G. Berrett. 1987. A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 409 pp. + 45 plates.
  26. Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 511 pp.
  27. Rappole, J.H., Morton, E.S., Lovejoy, T.E. and Ruos, J.L. 1983. Nearctic avian migrants in the Neotropics. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and World Wildlife Fund, Washington D.C.
  28. Ridgely, R. S. 2002. Distribution maps of South American birds. Unpublished.
  29. Robert, M., R. McNeil, and A. Leduc. 1989. Conditions and significance of night feeding in shorebirds and other water birds in a tropical lagoon. Auk 106:94-101.
  30. Rubega, M. A., D. Schamel, and D. M. Tracy. 2000. Red-necked Phalarope (<i>Phalaropus lobatus</i>). No. 538 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors, The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 28pp.
  31. Senner, S. E., D. W. Norton, and G. C. West. 1989. Feeding ecology of western sandpipers, CALIDRIS MAURI, and dunlins, C. ALPINA, during spring migration at Hartney Bay, Alaska. Can. Field-Nat. 103:372-379.
  32. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  33. Smith, K. G., and P. G. Connors. 1993. Postbreeding habitat selection by shorebirds, water birds, and land birds at Barrow, Alaska: a multivariate analysis. Can. J. Zool. 71:1629-1638.
  34. Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
  35. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  36. Warnock, S. E., and J. Y. Takekawa. 1995. Habitat preferences of wintering shorebirds in a temporally changing environment: western sandpipers in the San Francisco Bay estuary. Auk 112:920-930.