Calidris bairdii (Baird's sandpiper) 

Bairdse strandloper [Afrikaans]; Baird-strandloper [Dutch]; Bécasseau à croupion blanc [French]; Weißbürzel-strandläufer [German]; Pilrito de Baird [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

Baird's sandpiper, Idaho, USA. [photo Keith Carlson ©]	Baird's sandpiper, Wadrift Salt Pan, Western Cape, South Africa. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]

Distribution and habitat

Breeds in and near the Arctic Circle from the Chukotsky Peninsula, eastern Siberia to Baffin Island and north-western Greenland. In the non-breeding season it heads south to the west coast of South America,  while it is a rare vagrant to Eurasia, sub-Antarctic islands, Australia and Africa, including southern Africa. Here it has been recorded about six times: twice at the coast of central Namibia, three times in the south-Western Cape and once inland in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. It generally prefers short grassland, sometimes far from water, coastal mudflats, open shores, shallow wetlands, desert pans and waterholes.

Threats

Not threatened.

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.