Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hicklin ◽  
Cheri L. Gratto-Trevor
Keyword(s):  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Calidris Pusilla

Breeding Cycle and Behavior of the Semipalmated Sandpiper at Barrow, Alaska

The Auk ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoshana Ashkenazie ◽  
Uriel N. Safriel
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Pair Formation ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Breeding Cycle ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
The Family ◽  
Polygonal Area ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract Pair formation of Calidris pusilla near Barrow, Alaska occurs 3-6 days after the territory is established. The pair is then engaged in nest scraping displays during 2-3 days, in which 10-12 scrapes are made by the male and examined by the female. Eventually 2-3 scrapes are lined by the female, and in one of these the first egg is laid 4-6 days after pairing. During the egg-laying period further lining is performed by the female and partial incubation takes place by both sexes. Continuous incubation commences 8 h prior to laying of the 4th egg. Male and female alternate in incubation: in the first 2 days a turn lasts 3-5 h, and the duration gradually increases up to 13-14 h during the 2nd week. Long incubation turns reduce the number of approaches to the nest and may therefore reduce the chances of it being discovered by predators. The incubating bird is intermittently engaged in egg-rolling and in camouflaging the nest by bending adjacent grass blades over its back, and is constantly alert. The off-duty bird may feed 2-3 km away from the nest. The eggs hatch after 20 days of incubation, all within 1 day. Females desert the family 2-8 days after hatching: they desert late if hatching is early, and early if hatching is late in the season. After female departure the family moves from the nesting territory, typically in a high-centered polygonal area, to establish a home range as far as 2-3 km away, often in a low-centered polygonal area. During the first 6-8 days after hatching, the male prepares each evening a scrape for night brooding. After fledging, the male and young join wandering flocks.

scholarly journals Nest relief in the cryptically-incubating semipalmated sandpiper is quick but vocal

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Bulla ◽  
Christina Muck ◽  
Daniela Tritscher ◽  
Bart Kempenaers
Keyword(s):  
Incubation Period ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Continuous Monitoring ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers

Biparental care requires coordination between parents. Such coordination might prove difficult if opportunities to communicate are scarce, which might have led to the evolution of elaborate and noisy nest relief rituals in species facing a low risk of predation. However, whether such conspicuous rituals also evolved in species that avoid predation by relying on crypsis remains unclear. Here, we used a continuous monitoring system to describe nest relief behavior during incubation in an Arctic-breeding shorebird with passive nest defense, the semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla). We then explored whether nest relief behavior provides information about parental cooperation and predicts incubation effort. We found that incubating parents vocalized twice as much before the arrival of their partner than during other times of incubation. In 75% of nest reliefs, the incubating parent left the nest only after its partner had returned and initiated the nest relief. In these cases, exchanges were quick (25s, median) and shortened over the incubation period by 0.1 – 1.4s per day (95%CI), suggesting that parents became more synchronized. However, nest reliefs were not cryptic. In 90% of nest reliefs, at least one parent vocalized, and in 20% of nest reliefs, the incubating parent left the nest only after its returning partner called instantaneously. In 30% of cases, the returning parent initiated the nest relief with a call; in 39% of these cases, the incubating partner replied. If the partner replied, the next off-nest bout was 1 – 4hr (95%CI) longer than when the partner did not reply, which corresponds to an 8 – 45% increase. Our results indicate that incubating semipalmated sandpipers, which rely on crypsis to avoid nest predation, have quick but acoustically conspicuous nest reliefs. Our results also suggest that vocalizations during nest reliefs may be important for the division of parental duties.

scholarly journals Body mass and acquisition of breeding plumage of wintering Calidris pusilla (Linnaeus) (Aves, Scolopacidae) in the coast of Pernambuco, north-eastern Brazil

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmem E. Fedrizzi ◽  
Severino M. de Azevedo Júnior ◽  
Maria E. Lacerda de Larrazábal
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Eastern Brazil ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Breeding Grounds ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Breeding Plumage ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers

Annually, large flocks of semipalmated sandpiper Calidris pusilla (Linnaeus, 1766) winter along South America coast, between September-April. They store fats in order to moult and return to their breeding grounds. Here, was examined body masses and plumage of adults Semipalmated Sandpipers during the departure month to evaluate the relationship between body mass and plumage. Fieldwork was conducted at Coroa do Avião (7º40'S, 34º50'W), Pernambuco. Birds were trapped in mist-nets between April 1990 and 1997. They were weighed, and aged according to plumage. Adult plumage may be (1) non-breeding, (2) pre-breeding, and (3) breeding. A total of 213 birds were weighed and examined, so that 8.0% (17) presented non-breeding plumage, 54.0% (115) pre-breeding, and 38.0% (81) breeding plumage. As in Semipalmated Sandpiper, 25g is the minimum body mass required to migrate, birds with breeding plumage and most with pre-breeding, were potentially apt to migrate. Non-breeding plumage birds presented smaller body mass. Apparently physiological problems and infestation may be important factors to explain over-summering, i.e., individuals remaining in the wintering grounds during the boreal summer.

Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hicklin ◽  
Cheri L. Gratto-Trevor
Keyword(s):  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Calidris Pusilla

Time-Energy Budget of the Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris Pusilla at Barrow, Alaska

Ecology ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoshana Ashkenazie ◽  
Uriel N. Safriel
Keyword(s):  
Energy Budget ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Calidris Pusilla

Variation in diet of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) during stopover in the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (9) ◽  
pp. 1181-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.T. Quinn ◽  
D.J. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Diet Composition ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Prey Selection ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Corophium Volutator ◽  
Stopover Site ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Isotope Analyses ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers

Semipalmated Sandpipers ( Calidris pusilla (L., 1766)) use the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada, as a critical stopover site during their annual fall migration to wintering grounds in South America. While in the area, they feed extensively on mudflat invertebrates. Historically the amphipod Corophium volutator (Pallas, 1766) has been thought to make up the majority of their diet. However, we have recently observed flexibility in foraging behaviour and prey selection by sandpipers. The extent of this flexibility and the current diet composition is unknown. To address these knowledge gaps, we assessed Semipalmated Sandpiper diets using stable isotope analyses of blood plasma and available prey items. Data were collected in two arms of the Bay of Fundy during summer 2009 and 2010. Diets fluctuated between years and sites, but in all cases the diet was much more diverse than previously thought. Polychaetes and biofilm made substantial contributions, and C. volutator was still present in the diet, but at much reduced levels than previously noted. This previously unrecognized inclusion of biofilm in the diet is consistent with recent observations of other calidrid shorebirds. Based on measures of prey availability, there is little evidence of preference for C. volutator.

scholarly journals Effects of Extreme Tidal Events on Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) Migratory Stopover in the Bay of Fundy, Canada

Waterbirds ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary A. R. Mann ◽  
Diana J. Hamilton ◽  
Julie M. Paquet ◽  
Cheri L. Gratto-Trevor ◽  
Sarah G. Neima
Keyword(s):  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Migratory Stopover

The Structure of Aerial Displays in Three Species of Calidridinae (Scolopacidae)

The Auk ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 440-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward H. Miller
Keyword(s):  
The Arctic ◽  
Calidris Alpina ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Flight Mode ◽  
Calidris Pusilla

Abstract Sandpipers in the subfamily Calidridinae (Scolopacidae) breed in the Arctic and Subarctic. In all species, unpaired males engage in distinctive aerial displays. Such displays are described for three species: Dunlin (Calidris alpina L.), Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla L.), and Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus Bonaparte). In each of the species, displays last several minutes, during which simple monotonous calls are emitted; more complex calls (including "song") also occur. C. himantopus has a unique flight mode, which is considered as apomorphous (derived) within the subfamily. C. alpina is apomorphous for the buzziness of the main vocalization emitted in aerial display and C. pusilla for loss of the same vocalization and elaboration of another. The ancestral/derived status and systematic value of these and other display components are discussed, with reference to information available for other calidridine species.

Nesting success of yearling and older breeders in the Semipalmated Sandpiper, Calidris pusilla

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1133-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Gratto ◽  
F. Cooke ◽  
R. I. G. Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Lower Proportion ◽  
Nesting Success ◽  
Egg Predation ◽  
Hatch Date ◽  
Nest Distribution ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpiper ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Two Age Groups ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers

Approximately 100 pairs of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) nested in a 2-km2 area at La Pérouse Bay, Manitoba, each year from 1980 to 1982. The proportion of nesting yearlings in the population varied from 3 to 10% in different years. Some aspects of the breeding biology of pairs containing at least one yearling were compared with those without yearlings. In 1980, a significantly lower proportion of nests of yearlings were successful (hatched at least one chick) compared with older pairs. In 1981 and 1982 no difference was observed. Nest failure was primarily caused by egg predation. No differences in clutch size or nest distribution were found between the two age groups, but eggs were significantly smaller in nests of yearling females and mean hatch date at yearling nests was later.

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