Buff-breasted sandpiper

Buff-breasted sandpiper
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Scolopacidae
Genus:	Tryngites (disputed) Cabanis, 1857
Species:	T. subruficollis
Binomial name
Tryngites subruficollis (Vieillot, 1819)
File:Buff-Breasted Sandpiper Range.png
Range of T. subruficollis      Year-Round Range     Summer Range     Winter Range

The buff-breasted sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis) is a small shorebird. It is a calidrid sandpiper and currently considered to be the only member of the genus Tryngites. Indeed, it probably belongs in the genus Calidris itself, or more precisely with the small species thereof that should be split into a distinct genus. Depending on whether this would include the curlew sandpiper or not, the name Erolia would or would not, respectively, apply.

Description

This species is brown above, and has a buff face and underparts in all plumages. It has a short bill and yellow legs. Males are larger than females. Juveniles resemble the adults, but may be paler on the rear underparts.

Standard Measurements
length	190–230 mm (7.5–8.9 in)
weight	63 g (2.2 oz)
wingspan	460 mm (18 in)
wing	128.2–138.7 mm (5.05–5.46 in)
tail	56.8–61.4 mm (2.24–2.42 in)
culmen	19.9–21.3 mm (0.78–0.84 in)
tarsus	31.8–34 mm (1.25–1.34 in)

Distribution and habitat

File:Grasläufer.jpg

T. subruficollis breeds in the open arctic tundra of North America and is a very long-distance migrant, spending the non-breeding season mainly in South America, especially Argentina.

It migrates mainly through central North America, and is uncommon on the coasts. It occurs as a regular wanderer to western Europe, and is not classed as rare in Great Britain or Ireland, where small flocks have occurred. Only the pectoral sandpiper is a more common American shorebird visitor to Europe.

This species nests on the ground, laying four eggs. The male has a display which includes raising the wings to display the white undersides, which is also given on migration, sometimes when no other buff-breasted sandpipers are present. Outside the breeding season, this bird is normally found on short-grass habitats such as airfields or golf-courses, rather than near water.

These birds pick up food by sight, mainly eating insects and other invertebrates. The buff-breasted sandpipers are known to predate on Bombus polaris, a species of honeybee found within the Arctic Circle. They will either eat the bees or feed them to their young. They are often very tame.

Buff-breasted sandpipers are suspected to have hybridized with the white-rumped or Baird's sandpiper.

Distribution in South Asia and Australia

This species has been sighted in South Asia on at least three occasions. It is believed that instead of going to Argentina, this bird might have been wind-blown from the Great Plains Flyway of North America and landed up in South Asia. In November 2011, this species was sighted near Kannur, Kerala in South India. The buff-breasted sandpiper has also been recorded from Australia on at least eight occasions.

External links

• BirdLife species factsheet for Tryngites subruficollis
• Tryngites subruficollis on Avibase
• Buff-breasted sandpiper videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
• Buff-breasted sandpiper photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Interactive range map of Tryngites subruficollis at IUCN Red List maps
• Buff-breasted sandpiper Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Buff-breasted sandpiper - Tryngites subruficollis - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Audio recordings of Buff-breasted sandpiper on Xeno-canto.
• Tryngites subruficollis in the Flickr: Field Guide Birds of the World
• Buff-breasted sandpiper media at ARKive

• Supplementary Material