They then drop earthward on upswept wings and land with wings still raised. They fly nearly 100 feet off the ground and begin hovering over the territory, where they extend the neck, distend the throat, and produce their unusual song, which includes low croaks and wiry buzzing (it has been compared to the sound of pig oinks punctuated by a typewriter carriage return). Nesting Factsīuff or pale green, spotted or blotched with reddish brown.Īs soon as they return to the nesting grounds in early June, male White-rumped Sandpipers claim territories and begin displaying, even while the tundra has extensive patches of snow and ice. Nest Descriptionįemales build a cup of mosses, grasses, sedges, and other plant matter, lined with willow leaves, mosses, and lichens. Back to top Nesting Nest Placementįemales select the nest sites in a male’s territory, on hummocks or other small rises in wet tundra, usually with enough surrounding vegetation to conceal the nests. Prey items include midges, flies, craneflies, beetles, grasshoppers, leeches, bloodworms, marine worms, ramshorn snails, and tiny crustaceans (amphipods).
They also eat some plant matter, mostly seeds, including those of knotweed and various sedges. White-rumped Sandpipers tend to forage in open areas rather than areas within marsh vegetation. Like many small sandpipers, they probe several times, then walk a short distance and probe again. Less often, they pick prey from the surface. White-rumped Sandpipers eat mostly invertebrates, which they capture by probing into mud, sometimes deeply, with the entire bill inserted. In South America, migrants occupy similar habitats but also beaches, river banks, and lakes at higher elevation (up to at least 1,500 feet). They also use brackish habitats including upper portions of tidal mudflats, lagoons, and estuaries. During migration in North America, White-rumped Sandpipers frequent a remarkable variety of freshwater habitats, including wet agricultural fields, sod farms, freshwater impoundments, and marshes with muddy margins. Pectoral Sandpipers use similar habitats over much the same geographic range. Most White-rumped Sandpipers nest near freshwater ponds, lakes, or streams, but some nest in higher and drier tundra as well. Common plants include blueberry, water sedge, arctic redtop, narrow-leaved cottongrass, and mosses such as bog, brown, twisted, shining, and gray moss. They use areas with low vegetation such as grassy or mossy meadows, or low shrubby areas with arctic willows and clumps of sedges. Breeds mostly on low-lying wet tundra with grassy areas and dwarf willows sometimes on higher and drier tundra.White-rumped Sandpipers breed in moist and wet tundra of the high arctic, from remote northeastern Alaska to Baffin Island. During migration, found in a variety of situations, including flooded fields, shallow ponds, edges of freshwater marshes, tidal flats, gravel beaches. Prairies, shores, mudflats in summer, tundra. Conservation statusīecause migration often involves long flights, species is dependent on stopover points to feed and refuel for next flight loss of these staging areas could cause serious problems. At some stopover points, such as Cheyenne Bottoms, Kansas, many thousands may be present in late spring. In North America, White-rumped Sandpipers are seen in greatest numbers during northward migration through the Great Plains. Many fly annually from Canada's Arctic islands to the southern tip of South America some have gone even farther, to islands near the Antarctic Peninsula.
White rumped sandpiper Patch#
The trademark white rump patch is usually hidden by the long wings, which are a clue to this bird's long migrations.
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