Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

Return to Eastern Shorebirds

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of John Cassady

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

Identification: Length from tip of bill to tip of tail 9 inches. A large, stocky, sandpiper-like bird. Back and wings dark brown, mottled with white. Crown of the head brown contrasting with a white band over the eye. A dark line through the eye. Bill narrow, longer than in most sandpipers with a dull yellow base and a black apex. Breast white, but heavily streaked with brown. Undersides white and contrasting sharply and abruptly with the streaked breast. Legs yellow.

Similar Species:  The Pectoral Sandpiper is similar to the White-rumped Sandpiper and Baird's Sandpiper. The latter two species, however have dark legs (not yellow), are slightly smaller, and are a lighter, slightly rusty color above. The Least Sandpiper also has yellow legs, but is a much smaller bird (6 inches in length) and is a lighter brown in color.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Pectoral Sandpiper breeds on the far northern tundra regions of Canada and Alaska.

Overwintering Range:  Southern South America.

Habitat: The Pectoral Sandpiper breeds on the tundra. During migration these birds are seen in wet grasslands and other places where both grass and water come together.

Food: Aquatic invertebrates.

Behavior: The Pectoral Sandpiper is another in a large group of long distance migrators, traveling between the far northern and southern South America and back again during the year.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 4 brown-spotted ivory eggs. The eggs are laid in a ground depression in boggy tundra.