Medium small. Slightly decurved, shortish, bicolored bill. Sexes alike.
Adults: Breeding: Crown, brown with dark streaks. Neck, back, scapulars, teritials, blackish-brown strongly edged with pale rufous, darker on tertials. Lower back, rump, blackish. Eyebrow, white. Eyering, white. Eye, dark brown. Lores, dark. Tail, blackish-brown, feathers edged with buff, progressively becoming paler toward out feathers. Wings, dark brown, greater and primary coverts tipped white forming a narrow wing bar. Breast streaking dense, dark, forming slightly inflatable 'pouch' when courting. Face, throat, lower breast, belly, undertail coverts, whitish. Lower neck, breast, pale rufous. Entire underparts white and devoid of spots. Underwing, white. Bill, tip dark brown, base yellowish. Legs, yellow. Non-breeding: Upperparts, dark brown and lacking rufous edges to feathers. Crown, dark. Face, neck, breast, streaking less distinctive. Breast, pale bronwish-grey, strongly cut-off at lower breast. Underparts white and devoid of spots.
Immatures: Similar to breeding plumage but streaking less distinctive and confined to face, sides of neck, and breast.
Other Names (World)
Pectoral Sandpiper, American Pectoral Sandpiper, Pouter Shorebird
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada (B) (P), Cayman Islands, Chile, China (mainland), Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam (NB), Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Japan, Marshall Islands (NB), Martinique, Mexico, Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau (NB), Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Solomon Islands, South Korea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Taiwan (China), Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay (NB), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (NB).
Vagrant to Antarctica, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burundi, Côte dIvoire, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malta, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Niue, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia (European), Sâo Tomé e Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), South Africa, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spain, St Helena, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Breeds in northern Siberia, Alaska and Canada, migrates mainly to South America, the islands of the southern Pacific, New Zealand and Australia, including Tasmania.
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) [XC754987]
by Guillermo Treboux from Ca\u00f1ada de las Ovejas, Col\u00f3n, Entre R\u00edos, Argentina (flight call)
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) [XC323077]
by Peter Boesman from Barrow, North Slope, Alaska, United States (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds June - July in Arctic.
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Nest
A depression in the ground, lined with grass, hidden in a tussock.
Eggs (Guide)
4; light grey-green or green-buff, blotched with browns, especially at the larger end; ellipsoidal; about 37 x 25 mm. Incubation: 21 - 23 days; by female.
Subspecies
Cox's Sandpiper (Calidris paramelanotos) (Hayman et al. 1986) was treated as a subspecies of Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) but is now considered a hybrid of Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) and Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) following Higgins and Davies (1996).
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata)
Similar size. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Crown, chestnut. Breast, pale browish grey, not strongly cut-off at lower breast. Underparts, mostly white, with spots on flanks. Bill, also slightly decurved, but finer and dark brown, may be yellowish at base, particularly on lower mandible.
Ruff (Calidris pugnax)
Larger. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Crown, greyish. Underparts, brownish grey. Has a dark, horizontal streak through the eye, but lacks the white eyebrow. Bill, also slightly decurved, but tapering to a knob. May have reddish legs.
Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)
Much smaller. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Crown, grey, streaked darker. Bill, slender and black and slightly decurved; some are greenish yellow at base. Breast, grey buff, streaked darker, weakly cut-off at lower breast. Primaries darker. Wing bar more prominent in flight. Legs, black.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet