Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Calidris acuminata (Horsfield, 1821)

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Calidris acuminata, is a sandpiper in the family Scolopacidae that breeds in the low Arctic to subarctic tundra of north-east Siberia, from the Lena to the Kolyma rivers. Outside the breeding season it is found across Australasia, including coastal and inland Wallacea, New Guinea, Australia, Melanesia, New Zealand and Fiji, and it is prone to extreme vagrancy to North America and Europe. It is a small to medium wader with a pointed rear end, and its plumage is more vivid in the breeding season and duller in winter. It was described by Horsfield in 1821.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes

Breeding range

Palearctic: low Arctic to subarctic tundra of ne Palearctic: Lena to Kolyma rivers (ne Siberia)

Nonbreeding range

Australasia: coastal and inland Wallacea, New Guinea, Australia, Melanesia, New Zealand and Fiji (sw Polynesia); prone to extreme vagrancy to North America and Europe