Adults: Breeding: Crown, neck, back, scapulars, chestnut heavily streaked with dark brown, but less so on neck. Eyebrow, throat, breast, upper belly, chestnust, feathers sometimes with whitish tips. Eyering, white. Eye, drak brown. Lower back, most wing coverts, grey brown, greater and inner primary coverts tipped white forming a white wing bar with white base of inner primaries. Flight feathers, grey brown. Rump, uppertail coverts, white, barred with dark brown. Central tail feathers, barred white, rufous and dark brown, outertail feathers, grey brown. Chin buff. Lower belly, flanks, undertail coverts, whitish, slightly barred with brown. Underwing, white. Bill, black. Legs, black. Non-breeding: Eyebrow, long and white. Lores, blackish. Upperparts, greyish-brown with dark brown shafts. Rump, uppertail coverts, mostly white. Wing coverts, edged white. White wing bar. Underparts, white with pale grey brown lightly streaked sides to breast.
Immatures: Similar to non-breeding adult, but crown, back, scapulars dark brown, edged white and sides of neck and broad breastband buff.
Other Names (World)
Curlew Sandpiper, Curlew Stint, Pygmy Curlew, Redcrop
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Widespread common summer migrant (August - April). Some overwinter.
Habitat
Seashores, estuaries, tidal mudflats, saltmarshes, saltfields, fresh, brackish and salt water wetlands and sewerage ponds. Usually in flocks, often with other waders.
Afghanistan (P), Albania (P), Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan (P), Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin (NB), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria (NB), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China (mainland), Christmas Island, Comoros, Congo, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Costa Rica, Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (P), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (P), Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea (NB), Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland (P), France (P), French Southern Territories, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany (P), Ghana, Greece (P), Guadeloupe, Guam (NB), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran [Islamic Republic of], Iraq (P), Ireland, Israel, Italy (P), Japan, Jordan (P), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of], Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia (NB), Maldives, Mali, Malta, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Moldova [Republic of], Mongolia (B), Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands (P), New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Norway (P), Oman (NB), Pakistan, Palau (NB), Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland (P), Portugal (NB), Qatar, Réunion, Romania (P), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B) (P), Rwanda, Saudi Arabia (P), Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain (NB) (P), Sri Lanka (NB), St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden (P), Switzerland, Taiwan (China), Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB) (P), Togo, Tunisia (NB), Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine (P), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (P), USA (B), Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Bermuda, Bhutan, Ecuador, Gibraltar, Grenada, Iceland, Laos, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sâo Tomé e Principe, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Syrian Arab Republic, Virgin Islands (British).
Arctic Siberia from Yamal Peninsula to Kolyuchinskaya Gulf (northern Chukotskiy Peninsula). Winters from sub-Saharan Africa through southern Asia to Australasia.
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) [XC346642]
by Frank Lambert from Walvisbay area, Namibia (call)
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) [XC796484]
by Franck Hollander from Lo Goler\u00f3, Delta de l'Ebre, Spain (flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds June - July in coastal high Arctic tundra.
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Nest
A shallow depression on dry ground, near water.
Eggs (Guide)
4; smooth, light olive with underlying grey-violet areas and marked with brown patches, particularly at the larger end; almost pyriform; about 36 x 26 mm. Incubation: by both sexes.
Subspecies
Formerly placed in genus Erolia. Species name testacea formerly used, but pre-dated by ferruginea. Recently discovered Cox's Sandpiper "Calidris paramelanotos" shown to be hybrid between present species and, most probably, Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos). Cooper's Sandpiper "Calidris cooperi" was probably hybrid between present species and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata).
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
Slightly smaller. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Shorter legs and neck. Eyebrow, broad white, stopping at eye. Breast, pale greyish brow finely streaked. Rump is darker. Bill, black and decurved only at the tip, as opposed to being continuous.
Broad-billed Sandpiper (Calidris falcinellus)
Slightly smaller. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Darker underparts. Eyebrow, snipe-like whitish, splitting near eye. Breast, grey with fine dark streaks, not cut off fairly sharply from whitish underparts. Legs, dark grey. Bill, black, also decurved but broad at base.
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)
Similar size. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Upperparts, darker grey-brown. Underparts, white with short grey streaks throughout. Bill, longer, more robust, black tapering, slightly drooped and swollen at the tip. Legs, longer, spindly, yellow-green.
Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is a rare vagrant. Currently only known from Queensland (Cairns, Cape Bowling Green).
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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BirdLife International Species Factsheet