Sandpiper bird where they live and what they eat. Photographing birds. Icelandic sandpiper. Reproduction of long-tailed sandpipers

Long-toed sandpiper (Calidris subminuta). Order Charadriiformes, family Bekasovye. Habitat - Northeast Asia. Wingspan 32cm Weight 35g

Sandpipers inhabit the tundra and forest-tundra of Europe and Asia, they prefer low-lying banks of streams, overgrown with low polar trees and shrubs. These migratory birds fly to the countries of the Mediterranean and South Asia for the winter. One of the few waders that is not bothered by the human factor, the sandpiper willingly settles in the vicinity of cities and towns, perhaps because, due to its tiny size, the bird is of no value as a hunting prey.

The diet of sandpipers is poorly understood, ornithologists believe that it includes insects, their larvae and small invertebrates. These tiny little sandpipers nest on the ground, in depressions in the soil, often on hummocks. In clutch, as a rule, 3-4 gray-green eggs with small brownish speckles. There is evidence that only males incubate them and take care of the young, females immediately after laying eggs migrate to the south.

white-tailed sandpiper

The name of the species alludes to the white color that is clearly visible on the tail. The white-tailed sandpiper is the size of a sparrow. The back is brownish gray, with dark brown streaks. The chest is light brown with dark longitudinal shading, the belly and undertail are white. Legs greenish or yellowish grey. Female white-tailed sandpipers alternately mate with two males and build two nests. The eggs of the first clutch are incubated by the male, and the second by the female. For wintering, white-tailed sandpipers fly to the south of Europe, to Africa and to the southern regions of Asia. During migrations, some birds fly over the Himalayas at an altitude of about 6000 m above sea level.

The nest is a hole in the soil; there are 4 eggs in a clutch, they can be of various shades and covered with blurry spots. Up to 93% of all white-tailed sandpipers live in Russia; the range to the east stretches to Chukotka, Anadyr and Kamchatka. Outside of Russia, it is quite common in Scandinavia and northern Scotland.

oystercatcher

One of the smallest sandpipers, about the size of a sparrow. Cheeks, forechest, throat and edges of the neck are reddish-ocher, with streaks. The beak is short, thin and straight. Paws are black. They feed, like most waders - in shallow waters, walking along the muddy shores. Males lek, briefly hovering in the air. It is curious to note that females mate with two males. This builds two nests. In the first, the female incubates the eggs, in the second, the male.

Clutch up to 4 eggs. Brown-olive with specks of various colors from whitish to dark brown and gray-violet. In Russia, the oystercatcher nests in the tundra, to the east the range stretches to the northeastern part of Chukotka. For wintering, it flies to the shores of the Mediterranean, to the Middle East, to Central and South Africa.

big sandpiper somewhat larger than a starling. A small wader with short legs. Keeps in pairs and flocks on the ground.

Spreading. From the Verkhoyansk Ridge to the east to the Chukchi Peninsula and the Koryak coast of the Bering Sea. To the north to the mountainous regions in the Kolyma and Chukotka deltas, to the south to the Stanovoy, Dzhugdzhur ridges, the southwestern tip of the Kolyma.

Biotope. Rubble placers in the mountain tundra.

The nature of the stay. Migrant.

The Great Sandpiper breeds in the alpine zone of the mountains of the Chukotka Peninsula, lingering on the sea coasts on migration. Flies to Northern Australia for the winter.

Eggs (4 grayish-yellow with reddish-brown spots) are laid by the sandpiper in a nesting hole, sheltered in dense thickets of plants - mainly reindeer moss.

General coloration dark. The back is black, with rusty and light brownish spots. The underside of the body is white. The sides of the chest and goiter are covered with black spots, forming, as it were, stripes. The beak is long, the legs are greenish-brown. Young birds are duller colored. The plumage of downy chicks perfectly matches the environment and resembles a boulder overgrown with lichen in color.

It differs from other sandpipers by its large size, from snails by relatively short legs and voice. It is possible that this sandpiper is just a geographical race of the Icelandic sandpiper, however, in the breeding plumage on the ventral side, it does not have a red color.

Literature:
1. Synopsis of the ornithological fauna of the USSR. L. S. Stepanyan. Moscow, 1990
2. Beme R. L., Kuznetsov A. A. Birds of forests and mountains of the USSR: Field guide, 1981
3. Birds of open and coastal areas of the USSR. R.L. Boehme, A.A. Kuznetsov. Moscow, 1983

P. is called various small shorebirds (by the way, see Carrier) - Tringa - of the Scolopacidae family, Limicolae order. All fingers are completely free to the very base, the metatarsus is always longer than half the length of the beak; the beak is weakly or not at all widened at the end, there is a back finger; steering without transverse stripes. The genus contains 16 species distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, nesting almost exclusively in the Far North, but often wintering in the southern hemisphere. They feed on insects, small crustaceans, worms, soft-bodied, occasionally algae. Lay 4 eggs. There are 12 species in Russia, of which the most important. A) P., on the upper tail coverts of which white color prevails. one) P. Icelandic, or kerkun(Tr. canutus), folded wing 155-175 mm. The top of the body is brown, feathers with red spots and white edges; the bottom is red, but the sides, belly and undertail are white in a dark mottled. In winter, ash-gray above, white below with dark stripes. Breeds on Melville Island (80°N) and Hudson Bay (55°N); migration throughout Europe, winters in Africa to the land of Damara, in Australia and New Zealand (flies through Japan and China) and in Brazil (flies along the Atlantic coast). In Northern Russia in spring flies from the end of April to the end of May, back from the end of July; in Southern Russia - in October and November. 2) red-throated(Tr. subarcuata), folded wing 120-180 mm. It resembles P. Icelandic in color and in summer attire is red below, like that one. It is peculiar almost exclusively to the Old World; nesting sites are not yet open; span throughout Europe and North Asia; winters throughout Africa, Asia to Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago and in Australia. Arrival in Northern Russia in the spring from the end of April to the end of May, back from the end of July to September; in South Russia in autumn from late July to October. C) P. with upper tail coverts almost devoid of white, but 7th, 8th and 9th primaries of the 2nd category are mostly white above. 3) dunlin, or Alpine(Tr. alpina); folded wing 105-125 mm, legs completely black. Upper head, back and shoulders grey, each feather with a dark middle and a pale edge; wing coverts, rump and tail coverts greyish-brown with dark mid-feathers; below pure white with dark stripes on the sides of the neck and on the craw. Circumpolar view; breeds in Greenland, on the British Isles, in Northern Russia from the Kola Peninsula to the Baltic Territory, in Asia up to 74°N, in America, probably further south; on the span - everywhere; winters from the Mediterranean Sea to Zanzibar, in Asia on the Mekron coast (rare in the East Indies), in South China, Borneo and Java, in America (flies on both banks) in the southern states and the West Indies. Arrives in Northern Russia from the end of April, departs in July; in South Russia appears in early April, partly remains in summer, departs in November. C) P. without white on the upper tail coverts and with gray 7, 8 and 9 swings of the 2nd category. four) P. vulgaris, or sparrow(Tr. minute). Grayish-brown above, each feather with a darker middle, all underparts pure white with a small admixture of gray on the sides of the chest. In summer, blackish-brown above, white below, breast with yellowness and brown spots. Legs are black. Folded wing 105 mm. Breeds in tundra from Kola Peninsula to Taimyr Peninsula (74° N), but much further south in Eastern Russia; migration occurs throughout Europe and Western Asia, winters in Africa to the South, throughout India and Ceylon. In Central Russia in the north it flies in May, back in the St. Petersburg province from the end of July, in central Russia - from August. 5) P. small(Tr. Temmincki). Very similar in color to P. ordinary, but the legs are light, never brilliant black. Breeds in the tundra from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and along the banks of large rivers south to 65° north latitude; span throughout Europe and Asia; winters in North Africa up to 10°N on the east side and to Senegambia on the west, in Asia to Ceylon and the islands of the Malay Archipelago.

One of the features of the wader is the mating behavior of females, called "double nesting", in which the female alternately mates with two males. The initial clutch goes to the first male, who later incubates and cares for the offspring. The female takes care of the second clutch. It nests from late May to early July, in a clutch of 4 eggs of various shades with blurry spots. It feeds on invertebrates, which it finds on the surface of the earth and water, or in the thickness of coastal mud.

The bird received its scientific (and also in several European languages) name in honor of the Dutch ornithologist and author of books Conrad Temminck.

Description

Appearance

Plumage color has only seasonal and age differences, males and females do not differ externally from each other. In summer, the top of the oystercatcher from the side looks brownish-gray (in the oystercatcher, red tones predominate), in which, upon closer examination, one can distinguish black and dark brown streaks, unevenly located along the entire back. The chest is light brown with dark longitudinal strokes, the belly and undertail are white. The flight feathers are brown, a narrow but distinct white stripe is clearly visible along the top of the wing. The underside of the wing is white. The edges of the uppertail and the outer pair of tail tails are also pure white. The second and third pairs of tail feathers are also white, but with a slight grayish tint. Due to the large amount of white on the tail (in the oystercatcher-sparrow tails are light brown), the bird acquired its Russian-language name. The legs are greenish or yellowish gray, distinct from the completely dark legs of the oystercatcher.

Moulting, during which there is a change of summer attire to winter, begins even at the nesting sites, and ends already at the wintering grounds. From this time on, the bird becomes more like a miniature carrier, with which it is united by similar silhouettes, a monotonous brownish-smoky upperparts and a well-marked white chest. An even greater similarity than in summer was noted between the sandpiper and the oystercatcher - in addition to a similar, but still without brownish hues, plumage color, the latter looks thinner and longer than in summer. The main difference of the white-tailed sandpiper during this period is the same as in summer, yellowish or greenish legs and the absence of a clear V-shaped pattern on the back and wings (such a pattern in the oystercatcher is formed due to the light tops of the feathers). In addition, the oystercatcher has a clearly visible white stripe above the eye, and the sandpiper's head is painted monotonously. Juvenile birds are similar to adults in winter, but appear somewhat darker overall.

Voice

White-tailed sandpiper mating

The mating song of the male is a low silvery trill or squeaky squeal, transmitted as “trirrrr ...” and somewhat reminiscent of the chirping of a cricket. Most often, it is repeated many times with different tonality and, in general, has no definite duration. As a rule, the song is performed in a fluttering flight, in which the sandpiper seems to hang in one place, most often at a height of several meters from the ground. Less commonly, a singing sandpiper sits on some kind of elevation or runs excitedly along the ground. In all cases, the bird keeps its wings raised high above its back. It happens that in one place several males sing at the same time, not paying attention to each other. The current trill sounds between 4 and 24 hours, but is especially intense from 8 to 20 hours. When communicating or frightened, birds make a similar call, but shorter.

Spreading

breeding range

It breeds in the north of Eurasia, mainly from Scandinavia east to Chukotka, Anadyr and Kamchatka, with more than 93% of the population occurring in Russia. Inhabits predominantly typical and shrub tundras, to a lesser extent arctic tundra and some islands of the Arctic Ocean (in particular, settlements on the islands of Kolguev, Vaigach, Dolgiy and Bolshoi Lyakhovsky are known), as well as wet floodplain areas of the forest tundra. In Taimyr, apparently, it is absent north of 74 ° N. sh. , in Chukotka, the range border goes south and along the coast of the Bering Sea descends to Korfa Bay in Kamchatka. In Scandinavia, the sandpiper goes beyond the forest-tundra, penetrating into the taiga zone south to the 63rd parallel. Outside the described region, a tiny population has been noted in the north of Scotland in the Caledonian Forest region.

Migrations

A typical migratory bird, it winters in the warm temperate and tropical climates of Southern Europe, Africa, South and Southeast Asia. It is believed that from Scandinavia, Finland and from the Kola Peninsula, sandpipers migrate through Western Europe in a southern and southwestern direction - mostly to West Africa south of the Sahara, but also in small numbers to the Mediterranean countries - Spain, France, Italy, Albania, Greece , Tunisia and Libya. In West Africa, the most important wintering grounds are the wetlands in Niger and Nigeria, and the coast of Liberia. Birds nesting in northeastern Europe and parts of Western Siberia are likely to travel to Northeast and East Africa, stopping along the way to rest in areas adjacent to the Black and Caspian Seas. Mass concentrations of sandpipers in this direction are noted south to Kenya, Burundi and Zambia, and only a few individuals reach South Africa. Important parking areas are noted in Ethiopia (Lake Abidjata) and Kenya (near Lake Nakuru). More eastern populations winter in South and Southeast Asia - on the coasts of the Persian Gulf, India, southeast China (Guangdong and Fujian provinces), Hindustan and the island of Kalimantan.

In contrast to the oystercatcher, which forms large flocks on migration and keeps along the sea coasts, the white-tailed sandpiper, as a rule, avoids coastal areas, in spring and autumn it flies in a wide front alone or in flocks of 2-5 individuals. However, in the favorite places of stops in Central Europe, cases of mass accumulation of up to 150-200 individuals are known. White-tailed sandpipers, along with some other bird species, are known to cross the Himalayan mountains at an altitude of about 6000 m above sea level during migration. Birds nesting in the western part of the range leave nesting sites in mid-July - the second half of August. Return to nesting sites - in late May - early June.

habitats

Habitats during the nesting period are the banks of rivers and streams with banks overgrown with sparse grass and sparse shrubs, overgrown shallows, slopes of ravines and coasts, frozen pits and gullies. If the oystercatcher usually feeds on bare, muddy areas of water bodies, then the white-tailed sandpiper, as a rule, chooses places overgrown with sparse grass. It occurs in both wet and dry areas, but preference is given to places with boulders, buildings and other hills suitable for mating song. Often found near bays, fjords, in deltas, where the altitude does not exceed 250 m, but often avoids the especially harsh climatic conditions of the coastal strip of the far north. In the depths of the mainland nests at an altitude of up to 1200 m above sea level. It is not afraid of humans and often settles in settlements and on their outskirts. In most of its range, it is a common but not numerous species, with the exception of its periphery, where it is rare. On migration and in places of winter accumulation, it lives on the banks of various freshwater reservoirs, temporary floods, flood fields, sewage lagoons, wetlands with more or less dense vegetation, ravines. On sea coasts, it adheres to muddy areas in closed bays, estuaries and marshes, avoiding open sandy beaches.

Food

reproduction

Among all waders, white-tailed sandpipers arrive at nesting sites one of the last - in late May or early June. They arrive singly and in groups of 12-30, more often 4-6 birds. The current behavior of males, which consists in fluttering and singing, which is characteristic only for the species, begins already on migration, but reaches the greatest intensity already in the field. Pair formation also occurs at the nesting sites. An excited sandpiper takes off more often than usual, quickly flutters its raised wings in the air, without lowering them below the plane of the body. During the courtship flight, it hangs in one place or slides down for a short distance, often sits down on bushes, hummocks or other elevations. During such a flight, the sandpiper emits a trill, described above.

Enemies

Notes

1. Boehme R. L., Flint V. E. Five-language dictionary of animal names. Birds. Latin, Russian, English, German, French / Ed. ed. acad. V. E. Sokolova. - M.: Rus. lang., "RUSSO", 1994. - S. 84. - 2030 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00643-0.
2. Kozlova E.V. Charadriiformes. Suborder Kuliki Ch. 3// Fauna of the USSR. Birds. - M. - L.: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962. - T. 2, no. 1. - S. 72-84. - 434 p. - (New series No. 81).
3. Jobling, James A. A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. - United States: Oxford University Press, 1992. - S. 231. - ISBN 0198546343.
4. Ryabitsev V.K. Birds of the Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia: A guide-determinant. - Yekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Ural University, 2001. - S. 228-230.
5. Mullarney, Killian; Lars Svenson; Dan Zetterström & Peter J. Grant. Birds of Europe = Birds of Europe. - United States: Princeton University Press, 2000. - S. 142.
6. Ryabitsev V.K. Tundra birds. - Sverdlovsk: Middle Ural book publishing house, 1986. - S. 95-98.
7. Hayman, Peter; Marchant, John; Prater, Tony. Shorebirds: An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1991. - S. 363-382.

Great sandpiper - Calidris tenuirostris

Appearance.

The largest of the sandpipers (much larger than the starling). The beak is long, almost like that of snails. The top is brownish-mottled with red, the bottom is white, on the chest there are large rounded streaks, the rump is light. Legs are greenish-brown. In winter the upperparts are grey, there is less mottling on the chest. Young ones are duller.

Lifestyle.

Inhabitant of the mountain tundra, in non-breeding time keeps along the sea coasts. Migrant. Rare. It nests in gravelly areas with lichens and patches of herbaceous vegetation.

The nest is an open hole in the middle of reindeer moss. Clutch in mid-June, consists of 4 eggs with a grayish-yellowish background and abundant red-brown spots. The chicks are led exclusively by the male. The voice is a low whistle.

It differs from other sandpipers in its large size, from ulites, which it is very similar to, in relatively short legs and voice (without special skills, a mistake is not excluded).

Reference books of the geographer and traveler V.E. Flint, R.L. Boehme, Yu.V. Kostin, A.A. Kuznetsov. Birds of the USSR. Publishing house "Thought" Moscow, edited by prof. G.P. Dementieva. Image: Date September 2002 Source Own work Author Aviceda