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Tryngites subruficollis (Buff-breasted sandpiper) 

Taanborsstrandloper [Afrikaans]; Blonde ruiter [Dutch]; Bécasseau roussâtre [French]; Grasläufer [German]; Pilrito-canela [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Charadriiformes > Family: Scolopacidae

Tryngites subruficollis (Buff-breasted sandpiper)   

Buff-breasted sandpiper, California, USA. [photo Jeff Poklen ©]

 

Distribution and habitat

Breeds in the tundra of the high Arctic from eastern Siberia to Hudson Bay, Canada, heading south in the non-breeding season to north Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. It is a summer vagrant to southern Africa, with approximately eight records in the region: two at coastal central Namibia, one at the Berg River estuary, Western Cape, two at coastal KwaZulu-Natal and another two further inland in the North-West Province and Gauteng. It generally prefers dry grassland, the margins of lakes and ponds, sports fields, salt-marshes and fallow fields, occasionally moving to beaches and tidal flats.

Food 

It forages in a dainty and rapid manner much like a plover, plucking invertebrate prey from the surface of the ground or water.

References

  • Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.