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Wildlife
- Birds - |
Semipalmated Sandpiper
(Calidris pusilla) M |
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RANGE: Breeds from the Arctic Coast of western
and northern Alaska north to Victoria and central Baffin
Islands, east to northern Labrador, and south to western Alaska
and east-central Mackenzie across to northern Ontario, northern
Quebec, and coastal Labrador. Nonbreeding birds may summer in
coastal North America south to the Gulf Coast and Panama.
Winters from southern Florida south to South America.
STATUS: Abundant.
HABITAT: Inhabits subarctic and low to high Arctic tundra from
coasts, dunes, borders of tidal inlets and deltas to damp grassy
flats in interior and wet riverside tundra. Often occurs near
lakes or pools, shifting from first areas uncovered by melting
snow and surface ice to others becoming clear shortly
afterwards, including upland tundra. In other seasons, frequents
mudflats, sandy beaches, and wet meadows, favoring the vicinity
of water on tidal flats, lagoons, and ponds.
SPECIAL HABITAT REQUIREMENTS: Grassy or hummocky tundra.
NEST: Nests in a slight depression on the ground, amid short
herbage, sometimes in sand on grassy dunes or in low wet tundra
near small lakes.
FOOD: Forages by snatching food from surface and probing in soft
mud on mudflats or in wet sand exposed by ebbing tide. Eats
beetles, flies, fly larvae, mosquitoes, small mollusks, marine
worms, small crustaceans, and bits of seaweeds.
REFERENCES: Cramp and Simmons 1983, Davis in Farrand 1983a,
Miller 1999, Palmer 1967, Shunk 2004, Sibley 2000, Terres 1980,
Townsend in Bent 1927. |
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