Baird's Sandpiper
(Calidris bairdii)

Overview

Summary

© Jukka Jantunen (flickr.com/photos/jukka_jantunen)
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

The Baird's Sandpiper breeds in Arctic Canada, including the northernmost reaches of the Arctic islands, and in Alaska. The species winters in the short grasslands of South America, often at high altitudes. Surveys conducted during fall migration suggest that the Canadian population has experienced a moderate increase relative to about 1970, but the reliability of these results is considered low because of poor survey coverage and precision of the trend estimates.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation

General nesting period in Canada

Conservation and management

The Baird's Sandpiper currently faces few threats on its remote breeding grounds in the Arctic. However, wintering habitats in South America are being lost as a result of agricultural intensification when grazing lands are converted to crop land and when flooding pampa is drained (Blanco et al. 1993).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Blanco, D., R. Banchs and P. Canevari. 1993. Critical sites for the Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis) and other nearctic grassland shorebirds in Argentina and Uruguay. Unpublished United States Fish and Wildlife Service Report. Wetlands for the Americas, Manomet, MA and Buenos Aires, Argentina. 86 pp.
• Gratto-Trevor, C.L., V.H. Johnston and S.T. Pepper. 1998. Changes in shorebird and eider abundance in the Rasmussen Lowlands, NWT. Wilson Bulletin 110:316-325. Gratto-Trevor, C.L., V.H. Johnston and S.T. Pepper. 1998. Changes in shorebird and eider abundance in the Rasmussen Lowlands, NWT. Wilson Bulletin 110:316-325. (Link)
• Jehl, J.R. 1979. The autumn migration of Baird's Sandpiper. Studies in Avian Biology 2:55-68.
• Moskoff, W. and R. Montgomerie. 2002. Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Moskoff, W. and R. Montgomerie. 2002. Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)