There are no surveys in Canada that are sufficient to detect a change in the population status of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper relative to about 1970. During migration, adult Sharp-tailed Sandpipers remain on the Asian side of the Pacific, travelling overland due south from their breeding grounds in the Russian Arctic to their wintering grounds in Australasia. In contrast, juveniles take a 2,300 km detour across the Bering Sea into western Alaska before veering out again on a trans-Pacific oceanic flight to join the adults in the southern hemisphere. Although population estimates for these birds are uncertain (Handel and Gill 2010), between 16,000 and 32,000 juveniles are estimated to migrate through Alaska during September, roughly 1,000 of which are thought to reach Canada before embarking across the Pacific Ocean (Campbell et al. 1990). The detour to western Alaska before flying across the Pacific Ocean allows juveniles to deposit massive fuel stores at the highest known rates for similar-sized shorebirds, and helps them to avoid predators and pathogens that they would encounter along the adults' route (Lindström et al. 2011). In Canada, small numbers of juveniles occur annually at coastal sites, and also up to about 200 km inland, in British Columbia and Yukon between late August and mid-October (Campbell et al. 1990, Sinclair et al. 2003). The population trend for the global population, estimated at 160,000 individuals, is unknown (Wetlands International 2014). There is therefore insufficient information to establish a national population goal for this species.
