Family Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes (Scolopacidae)
Least Concern
Broad-billed Sandpiper (Calidris falcinellus)
Taxonomy
French: Bécasseau falcinelle German: Sumpfläufer Spanish: Correlimos falcinelo
Taxonomy:
Scolopax Falcinellus
Pontoppidan
, 1763,Denmark
.Hitherto placed in monotypic genus, Limicola, but recent study indicates that latter is embedded within Calidris#R (see also under Tribe Calidrini). Two subspecies recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution
C. f. falcinellus
(Pontoppidan, 1763) – Scandinavia and NW Russia; winters from E Africa (rarely to South Africa) through S Red Sea and Arabia to W & S India and Sri Lanka.
C. f. sibirica
(Dresser, 1876) – NE Siberia (Taymyr, and R Lena E to R Kolyma); winters from NE India through SE Asia, Philippines and Indonesia to Australia.
Descriptive notes
16–18 cm; 28–68 g; wingspan 34–39 cm. Small sandpiper with long, broad bill decurved at tip; distinctive split supercilium; short legs; black mantle and... read more
Voice
Male has two song types associated with different flight speeds in display: firstly, a rhythmic... read more
Habitat
Race falcinellus breeds in subarctic montane and lowland zone, usually at altitudes above... read more
Food and feeding
Mainly marine worms, including nereids; also small bivalves and snails, crustaceans (e.g. amphipods), adult and larval insects, including... read more
Breeding
Laying early to late Jun in Fennoscandia, mid Jun to early Jul in Russia. Monogamous. Breeds in loose colonies, of 2–10 pairs, 80... read more
Movements
Adults depart breeding grounds in Fennoscandia Jul, juveniles Aug; migrates in broad front SE... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Total population of nominate 13,000–22,000 pairs, with 200–1000 pairs in Norway (1990), 3000–5000 pairs in Sweden (... read more
Autumn migration of Broad-billed Sandpiper in Sivash, Ukraine
Between 6-17th. August 1998 a waterbird count was performed in Sivash with a basecamp situated near the city of Djankoy in Crimea, Ukraine. One of the objectives of the work was counting all waterbirds in the Sivash area, and for Broad-billed sandpipers feeding ecology and migration strategies were studied.
The total number of Broad-billed Sandpipers counted during the period was estimated to between 2200-2700 birds.
One major observations during this study was the complete shift in age-distribution during migration, from 30. July to 27th. August birds were caught in mistnets and during a short period around 7-11th. August it shifted from nearly 100% adults to 100% juveniles caught. Also feeding ecology were studied, and for the first time Ostracoda sp. were found to be an important food item for this species during migration. in some cases up to 100% of the food items found in stomachs were ostracods.
More details in:
W.T. Nobel, E.A. Diadicheva, S.Ø. Nilsen & T. Kirikova
Broad-billed Sandpiper in the Sivash, August 1998
in "Counts and ecology of waterbird in the Sivash, Ukraine, August 1998". J van der Winden et al. WIWO-report 71, 2001