Adult. Photo: Tim Boyer/Flickr (CC BY NC 2.0)
Numenius phaeopus
| Conservation status | Numbers were seriously depleted by market hunters in late 19th century, have recovered somewhat since. |
|---|---|
| Family | Sandpipers |
| Habitat | Shores, mudflats, marshes, tundra. Found on a wide variety of habitats on migration. Most common on mudflats, but also found on rocky shores, sandy beaches, salt marshes, flooded agricultural fields, grassy fields near coast. In summer, breeds on Arctic tundra. |
Forages by walking on open flats, picking up items from surface or probing just below surface; despite long bill, does not seem to probe deeply. When feeding on crabs, may break off legs and crush shell before swallowing body of crab.
4, sometimes 3. Olive to buff, blotched with shades of brown. Incubation is by both sexes, roughly 24-28 days. Young: Downy young leave nest soon after hatching. Both parents tend young, but young feed themselves. Adults actively attack predators flying over nesting area, and will fly straight at human intruders, swerving aside at last moment. Age of young at first flight about 5-6 weeks.
Downy young leave nest soon after hatching. Both parents tend young, but young feed themselves. Adults actively attack predators flying over nesting area, and will fly straight at human intruders, swerving aside at last moment. Age of young at first flight about 5-6 weeks.
Includes insects, crustaceans, berries. On breeding grounds may feed mostly on insects at first, but berries (such as crowberry and cranberry) become major part of diet by late summer. On coast, often eats many crabs, also amphipods and other crustaceans, marine worms, small mollusks.
Early in breeding season, male performs flight display over nesting territory: flies in large circles, alternately fluttering higher and gliding down, while giving whistling and bubbling song. On ground, members of pair may call together. Nest site is on ground, usually in dry raised area near low-lying wet tundra. Nest (probably built mostly by female) is shallow depression, lined with bits of lichen, moss, grass.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
This summer was supposed to be the last chance to study nesting birds before oil development began. Now even those plans are hazy.
The decision to open the refuge's entire coastal plain to development, combined with climate change, 'may result in extinction' for some birds.
Shoreline and wetland habitats have continued to decline as sea levels rise, communities develop along coasts, and natural disasters increase, leav
Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news.
Visit your local Audubon center, join a chapter, or help save birds with your state program.
Membership benefits include one year of Audubon magazine and the latest on birds and their habitats. Your support helps secure a future for birds at risk.
Our email newsletter shares the latest programs and initiatives.
