Upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)

Call Number:

URL:

Keywords:

Abstract:

Unlike most shorebirds, the upland sandpiper is completely terrestrial, rarely associated with coastal or wetland habitats, an obligate grassland species; as a result, it is often recognized as an indicator of tallgrass prairie health. This sandpiper spends as little as 4 months on its breeding grounds, largely (70% of the breeding population) in the central and northern plains of North America, where it typically requires 3 different but nearby habitats: during courting, it needs perches and low vegetation for visibility; during nesting, higher vegetation to hide its nest; and during supervision of young, lower vegetation. The upland sandpiper is capable of long flights, often reaching its wintering grounds in South America within a week, where it spends up to 8 months. In contrast to its relative abundance in the central and northern Great Plains, the species is distributed sparingly west of the Rocky Mountains, primarily in high-altitude meadows in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, the Yukon, and the southwestern Northwest Territories. In eastern North America, the species is becoming more abundant in New Brunswick, in blueberry barrens in eastern Maine, and in peatlands in Quebec. Similarly, airports now supply half or more of this species’ nesting sites in several northeastern U.S. states, where larger, contiguous tracts of grasslands are otherwise in short supply. Evidence of breeding success in these habitats is limited. Once especially numerous on the western plains, even expanding into eastern North America as forests were converted to agriculture, the upland sandpiper succumbed to tolls of market and sport hunting in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Although enforcement of the Migratory Birds Convention Act of 1916 curbed this decline, in most places across the northern Great Plains the chronology of decline suggests that an even more detrimental factor was the loss of most of its breeding habitat as grassland was broken by the plow and crops were planted. Similar declines were noted on wintering grounds in South America. Since 1970, Breeding Bird Surveys suggest continued population declines across portions of the United States and Canada, resulting in the bird being listed as a species of conservation concern in at least 22 states and provinces. This species account summarizes what is known to date about upland sandpiper life history, behavior, populations, and conservation and management, as well as priorities for research about the species.

Notes:

Full Citation: Houston, C. Stuart, Cameron R. Jackson, and Daniel E. Bowen, Jr. 2011. Upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda). The Birds of North America Online, Alan Poole, editor. No. 580. Revised. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/580

Location: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/580/