Adults: Breeding: Crown, chestnut with black 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. Face, throat, lower breast, belly, undetail coverts, whitish. Lower neck, breast, pale rufous. Entire underparts streaked or spotted with dark brown. Underwing, white. Bill, tip dark brown, base yellowish, particularly base of lower mandible. Legs, yellowish to greenish-grey. Non-breeding: Upperparts, dark brown and lacking rufous edges to feathers. Crown, some chestnut. Face, neck, breast, streaking less distinctive. Breast, pale browish-grey.
Immatures: Similar too breeding plumage but streaking less distinctive and confined to face, sides of neck, and breast, forming a narrow necklace. Breast more olive.
Other Names (World)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Stint, Siberian Sandpiper, Asiatic Pectoral Sandpiper, Siberian Pectoral Sandpiper, Brown-eared Sandpiper, Little Greenshank, Little Snipe
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China (mainland) (NB), Christmas Island, Guam (NB), Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Marshall Islands (NB), Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Pakistan, Palau (NB), Philippines, Russia (Asian), Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB) (P), Tonga, United States Minor Outlying Islands (NB), USA (B) (NB), Vanuatu, Vietnam.
Vagrant to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Madagascar, Mongolia, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Norway, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Russia (Central Asian), Seychelles, Solomon Islands, St Helena, Sweden, United Kingdom, Yemen.
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) [XC182428]
by Christoph Bock from Werribee Treatment Plant, Victoria, Australia (call)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) [XC283313]
by Ukolov Ilya from Tuggerah Lake, New South Wales, Australia (flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds June in north-eastern Siberia.
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Nest
A shallow depression in the ground, lined with a few leaves.
Eggs (Guide)
4; olive-brown or green finely peppered with dark brown spots and larger end sometimes covered with patch of dark brown; ellipsoidal; about 39 x 27 mm. Incubation: by female.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)
Similar size. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Crown, dark but not chestnut. Breast, pale browish grey, strongly cut-off at lower breast. Underparts, mostly white, no streaks on flanks. Bill, also slightly decurved, but heavier and olive-yellow at the base. Usually slightly brighter yellow legs.
Ruff (Calidris pugnax)
Larger. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Dark streak through eye. Crown, greyish. Underparts, brownish grey. Has a dark, horizontal streak through the eye, but lacks the white eyebrow. May have reddish legs. Bill, also slightly decurved, but tapering to a knob.
Compare Images
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
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