This polyandrous (female has more than one mate) shorebird turns the tables on the male. She is the one that calls the shots and competes to attract males. The most remarkable and curious thing is that the male has higher levels of prolactin, which carries parental care, so it makes sense that the male would want to care for the young.
The Spotted Sandpiper is known for teetering and bobbing as it moves, and if disturbed will fly just above water or land with shallow, rapid wingbeats. Even from a distance, seeing the constant bobbing indicates to birds that it is, indeed, the most common of sandpipers. This also includes young birds that have just left the nest.
Spotted Sandpiper, Breeding Plumage
The nest is a scraped depression on the ground around sticks, plants and grasses and is three hundred feet or so from the shoreline of quiet waterways, such as lakes, rivers, streams, or marshy areas. These birds are a freshwater habitat lover, and are found in the riparian woods, on mudflats, as well as along lakeshores, where they will dine upon small insects, fish, crabs, and the like.
This sandpiper is either alone or with one other bird, and is a stiff winged flier, calling peet-peet-peet, when disturbed.
Not only are they very distinctive and easy to identify in breeding plumage, they are even easy to tell in non-breeding plumage. Observe the general shape, markings, and size, as well as the length of the bill and white eyebrow, and you'll have the species down pat in no time.
Spotted Sandpiper, Juvenile
No comments:
Post a Comment