Habitat
During all seasons, the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper favors shallow, wet locations (saline, brackish, or fresh) with short or emergent vegetation. On their Siberian breeding grounds, they nest in wetter tundra than other small-to-medium shorebird species. During the nonbreeding season Sharp-tailed Sandpipers typically use shallow waters or muddy, grassy patches in lagoons, rice fields, high-salinity lakes, sewage ponds, flooded pastures, and temporary wetlands.
Back to topFood
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers consume a wide variety of foods, including insects and their larvae, mollusks, snails, crustaceans, worms, and seeds. They feed at the water’s edge by pecking and jabbing at the surface or with rapid, shallow probing.
Back to topNesting
Nest Placement
Placed on the ground in dense sedges in areas of wet tundra.
Nest Description
A shallow depression filled with grass and willow leaves.
Nesting Facts
| Clutch Size: | 3-4 eggs |
| Egg Description: | Olive brown to yellow olive, either unmarked or with small-to-large brown spots. |
Behavior
The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is polygynous (males mate with more than one female) or, possibly, promiscuous (males and females both have multiple mates). Males arrive first on the breeding grounds and establish territories. An individual male will try to mate with any female that lands within his territory. The female may then stay to nest within that territory, move to another male's territory, or nest at a location that is not within any male's realm. Since males try to mate with multiple females, and females may visit more than one male territory, it is quite possible that females copulate with more than one male. The female alone incubates the eggs and cares for chicks, as males depart the breeding grounds during the incubation period.
Back to topConservation
The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates Sharp-tailed Sandpiper’s global population as 60,000–120,000 breeding individuals (with a best estimate of 73,000) and lists its conservation status as Vulnerable. This assessment is based on data from Australia, where 90% of the population spends the nonbreeding season and this species is estimated to have declined by approximately 45% over a 15-year span. Habitat degradation, pollution, and climate change are ongoing threats to Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.
Back to topCredits
BirdLife International. 2022. Calidris acuminata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T22693414A152588591. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T22693414A152588591.en.
Dunne, P. (2006). Pete Dunne's essential field guide companion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, USA.
Mlodinow, S. G., G. M. Kirwan, J. Van Gils, and P. Wiersma (2024). Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.shtsan.02
O'Brien, M., R. Crossley, and K. Karlson (2006). The Shorebird Guide. Houghton Mifflin, New York, New York, USA.
Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.
Svensson, L., K. Mullarney, and D. Zetterström (2009). Collins Bird Guide. Second edition. HarperCollins, London, UK.