shore birds, they will usually permit one to approach, either on
foot or in a boat, within 5 or 6 yards, while I have known a gun to
be discharged into a flock with fatal effect, but without causing
any of the birds which escaped injury to take wing. Like most obese
creatures they are habitually sluggish, confining their wanderings
afoot to limited areas, and exploiting these very deliberately,
walking slowly and sedately in crouching attitudes, with measured
steps, frequently stopping to thrust their bills listlessly a
little way into the soft ground, or to pick up small morsels of
food from the surface. Occasionally, however, one may see them
running to and fro over the mud quite briskly and ceaselessly,
perhaps incited to this comparatively unusual behavior by the
example of other waders feeding close about them, for they are by
no means averse to the companionship of several of the lesser
kinds, such as semipalmated plover and sandpipers, grass-birds,
dunlins, etc. Although somewhat loath to take wing, even when
threatened by obvious danger, they are likely to fly swiftly and
far, when once started, doubling and circling over the marshes in
much the same manner as other small sandpipers.
John T. Nichols, says in his notes:
When startled, a bird has been seen to crouch down concealing the
bulk of its white underparts and practically disappear against the
brightly lighted mud flat on which it had been feeding. This is a
habit shared by its close relatives the pectoral and least
sandpipers.
_Voice._--The white-rumped sandpiper is ordinarily a rather silent bird,
but its short, sharp flight note is characteristic of the species and
serves to distinguish it readily in the field. To me it sounds like
_tzeep_ or _tzip_; Mr. Nichols calls it "a squeaky mouse-like _jeet_";
Mr. Brewster (1925) describes it as "a feeble lisping _zip_ or _tsip_,
fringilline, rather than limicoline, in character"; and Doctor Townsend
(1905) thinks that "it suggests at times the call note of the pipit." C.
J. Maynard (1896) refers to "one cry in particular, being loudly given
and greatly prolonged, resembling the scream of a rapacious bird more
than the whistle of a sandpiper."
_Field marks._--The best field mark for this species is the white rump,
or rather upper tail-coverts; this is conspicuous in flight but is
usually concealed by the wings when the bird is on the ground. I have
noticed that, while the bird is standing with its side toward me, the
gray of the upper parts extend down on the sides of the neck as far as
the bend of the wing, whereas in the semipalmated sandpiper, with which
it might be confused, there is a decided white space in front of the
wing.
Mr. Nichols says in his notes:
This bird is a size larger than least or semipalmated sandpipers,
and at favorable angles shows a diagnostic white patch crossing
above the rather dark tail. This white patch is a good example of
color which apparently functions as a recognition mark. If the same
were fortuitous one would not expect the tail to be darker than in
related species, as is the case, causing the white rump to show
more prominently. Straight bill, (or with slight decurviture at the
tip, like that of the pectoral sandpiper) and as a rule finely and
sharply streaked head and breast prevent chance of confusion with
the European curlew sandpiper, of casual occurrence on our Atlantic
coast.
_Fall._--The beginning of the fall flight is apparently southeastward
from its breeding grounds west of Hudson Bay and perhaps southward from
Baffin Island, where it breeds. Mr. Turner's Ungava notes give a very
good idea of this first step in the migration and a good impression of
the great abundance of this species; he writes:
As I proceeded farther northward I did not observe a single one of
these sandpipers until we came to anchor off the mouth of Georges
River (July 31) where quite a number were seen on the pebbly beach,
seeking their food among the rocks and shingle as the tide receded.
At this date quite a number, in fact fully three-fourths, of those
seen were birds of the year as was fully attested by traces of
downy plumage yet among the feathers of the body and especially on
the head and neck. The sizes of the flocks varied from three or
four to nearly a dozen, doubtless consisting of a single brood or,
in the case of the larger flocks, of two or more broods with their
parents. Some of the younger members of the flocks had the wing
quills not fully developed while others were considerably farther
advanced. Such a variation of plumage both in age and coloration
was exhibited that I presumed there must be two weeks difference in
the ages of the different young.
By the 10th of August all the young are well able to fly and make
protracted flights in search of food. By this date they assemble in
flocks, amounting at times, to thousands of individuals, resorting
to the mud flats left bare by the receding tide. The mouth of the
Koksoak and the cove to the westward of it present excellent tracts
of mud deposited in the little indentations. By the middle of
September these birds begin to depart to the south. Many of them
ascended the Koksoak and others doubtless followed the windings of
the coast down the Atlantic. I have seen numerous flocks over a
hundred miles from the mouth of the river as late as October 12th,
and an occasional single bird as late as the 20th of that month. I
have observed, at the mouth of the Koksoak River, flocks of these
birds often numbering over a hundred individuals suddenly appear
from high in the air. These I suspected to be birds coming from the
regions to the northward of the strait for they always came from
the sea.
Thence there is an overland flight to the Atlantic coast. Mr. Brewster
(1925) says:
White-rumped sandpipers visit Lake Umbagog regularly and not
infrequently, if rather sparingly, in autumn, appearing oftenest
during the month of October. Those arriving early in the season are
mostly adult birds which occur singly or two or three together;
those coming later are of various ages and sometimes in flocks
containing as many as eight or nine members each, but rarely, if
ever, a greater number. Bonaparte's sandpipers are hardy birds.
They may be seen at the lake when its bordering marshes are stiff
with frost. Once (October 26, 1883) I found nine of them near the
mouth of Cambridge River two days after the entire region had been
covered with snow to a depth of 7 inches.
This bird is a regular, but never an abundant, migrant on the coast of
Massachusetts in the fall. The vast numbers which Turner saw in Ungava
must seek some other route; the species is never abundant in the
interior in the fall and it seems to be rather rare on the Atlantic
coast south of New England; the natural inference is that it migrates at
sea from Maine or Nova Scotia directly to South America or the West
Indies. It is abundant at times in Bermuda.
The adults begin to reach Cape Cod in August, but the main flight comes
in September, consisting partially of young birds; most of the young
birds come in October and some linger as late as November 10. While with
us the white-rumped sandpiper frequents the wet meadows and marshes near
the shore, as well as the sand flats, mud flats, and beaches, feeding at
low tide singly or in small flocks and usually associated with pectoral,
semipalmated, or least sandpipers. During high tides, while the flats
are covered, this species may be seen on the high sandy beaches, mixed
in with the vast flocks of small shorebirds, sleeping, or resting, or
preening their plumage, while waiting for feeding time to come again; if
the wind is blowing, all the birds are facing it; many are crouching on
the sand and others are standing on one leg with the bill tucked under
the scapulars. These flocks often contain hundreds and sometimes
thousands of birds, mainly semipalmated sandpipers, semipalmated
plover, and sanderlings. They are not all asleep, however, for if
approached too closely, they all rise and whirl away in a vast
shimmering cloud, flashing now white and now dark as they turn, and
settle on the beach again at no great distance.
_Winter._--August finds the white-rumped sandpiper migrating along the
coast of Brazil and it has been known to reach Cape Horn as early as
September 9. Doctor Wetmore (1926) writes:
The white-rumped sandpiper was the most abundant of the migrant
shore birds in the regions visited in southern South America. The
species was not recorded until September 6, 1920, when it appeared
in abundance in southward migration on the lagoons at kilometer 80,
west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay. The first flocks from which
specimens were taken were adult females, and two taken on the date
when they were first recorded had laid eggs a few weeks previous as
was shown by the appearance of the ovaries. The southward migration
came with a rush as the birds passed through the night as witnessed
by their calls. The flight continued until September 21, when a
dozen, the last seen here, were recorded. The birds circled about
lagoons in small compact flocks or walked along on muddy shores,
where they fed with head down, probing rapidly in the soft mud;
anything edible encountered was seized and swallowed and the bird
continued without delay in its search for more.
Farther south this species was encountered in abundance in its
winter range on the pampa. Ten were recorded at Dolores, Buenos
Aires, October 21, and from October 22 to November 15 the species
was found in numbers on the coastal mud flats on the Bay of
Samborombom. A few were seen at pools of water in the sand dunes
below Cape San Antonio. Along the Rio Ajo white-rumped sandpipers
were encountered in flocks of hundreds that came upstream to
search the mud flats at low tide or were concentrated on bars at
the mouth when the water was high. In early morning there was a
steady flight of them passing to suitable feeding grounds. The
birds flew swiftly, with soft notes, from 3 to 15 feet from the
earth. In feeding they scattered out in little groups that covered
the bare mud systematically. It was not unusual to record as many
as 2,000 in a day. About two hundred were observed in the bay at
Ingeniero White, the port of Bahia Blanca, on December 13, and at
Carhue, Buenos Aires, from December 16 to 18, white-rumped
sandpipers were noted in fair numbers on inundated ground back of
the shore of Lake Epiquen or about fresh-water ponds on the pampa
inland. None were found in Uruguay during February.
Ernest Gibson (1920) says of this species, at Cape San Antonio, Buenos
Aires:
This is certainly our commonest wader, and is found everywhere in
flocks, from, say, the end of October to the middle or end of
March. The number in these gatherings is only restricted by the
area of the feeding ground; hence, when large mud flats are
available in the vicinity of our fresh or salt water lagunas and
cangrejales, or at the subsidence of a flood, the flocks are
sometimes of enormous size. The observer may see many acres of
ground which look to be in continuous movement, the surface being
alive with the restless throng of sandpipers running about and
chasing each other, feeding, or taking constant short flights.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--North and South America; casual in Europe.
_Breeding range._--Although the white-rumped sandpiper has been noted in
summer from Wainwright, Alaska, east to southern Greenland
(Julianshaab), the only places where eggs have been taken are Point
Barrow, Alaska; Herschel Island, Yukon; Taylor Island, Victoria Land;
Fort Anderson and Rendezvous Lake, Mackenzie; and the southeast shore of
Lake Nettilling, Baffin Island.
_Winter range._--North to Paraguay (Rio Pilcomayo and Rio Parana); and
Uruguay (Montevideo). East to Uruguay (Montevideo); Argentina (La Plata,
Cape San Antonio, Bahia Blanca, Rio Chubut, and Puerto San Julian); the
Falkland Islands; and Tierra del Fuego. South to Tierra Fuego; and
southern Chile (Straits of Magellan). West to Chile (Straits of Magellan
and Santiago); and Paraguay (Rio Pilcomayo).
_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida, De
Funiak Springs, May 12; Georgia, Savannah, May 17; South Carolina, Mount
Pleasant, May 7, Frogmore, May 7, and Charleston, May 16; North
Carolina, Cape Hatteras, May 2, Churchs Island, May 6, and Pea and
Brodie Islands, May 15; Virginia, Smith's Island, May 14; District of
Columbia, Washington, May 11; New Jersey, Long Beach, May 9, Trenton,
May 12, and Bernardsville, May 14; New York, Mastic, May 11,
Canandaigua, May 19, Rockaway Beach, May 21, and Freeport, May 22;
Connecticut, Middletown, May 10, and New Haven, May 19; Rhode Island,
Block Island, May 16; Massachusetts, Melrose, May 9, and Harvard, May
20; Vermont, Woodstock, May 14, Brattleboro, May 18, and Rutland, May
19; Maine, Scarboro, May 29; Quebec, Godbout, May 24, and Quebec City,
May 27; Louisiana, Lobdell, May 14; Kentucky, Bowling Green, April 27;
Missouri, Jacks Fork, May 15, and Sand Ridge, May 16; Illinois, De Kalb,
May 8, and Elgin, May 11; Ohio, Canton, May 8, Berlin Center, May 11,
and Youngstown, May 17; Michigan, Detroit, May 6; Ontario, Toronto, May
26; Iowa, Marshalltown, May 4, and Sioux City, May 7; Wisconsin,
Whitewater, April 28; Minnesota, Wilder, May 5, Jackson, May 13, and
Heron Lake, May 19; Texas, Brownsville, April 11, and Ingram, May 8;
Kansas, Emporia, May 4, Lawrence, May 5, and Topeka, May 7; Nebraska,
Neligh, May 1, and Peru, May 13; South Dakota, Sioux Falls, May 5, and
Vermilion, May 9; Manitoba, Whitewater Lake, May 12; Saskatchewan,
Ravenscrag, May 13; and Mackenzie, Fort Resolution, May 19, and Fort
Simpson, May 26.
Late dates of spring departure from the wintering grounds are:
Argentina, French Bay, March 7, and Guamini, March 8. In North America,
late dates are: South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, May 30, and Frogmore,
May 31; North Carolina, Raleigh, May 24, and Lake Ellis, June 15;
Virginia, Smith's Island, June 7; Delaware, Lewes, June 8; Pennsylvania,
Erie, June 4; New Jersey, Bernardsville, May 24, and Camden, May 24; New
York, Castleton, June 2, and Long Beach, June 20; Massachusetts,
Harvard, June 4; Illinois, Waukegan, June 9; Ohio, Painesville, June 14,
and Lakeside, June 25; Ontario, Toronto, June 21; Iowa, Sioux City, May
30, and Keokuk, June 5; Wisconsin, Madison, May 30; Minnesota, Hallock,
June 8; Texas, Lomita, May 22, and Gainesville, May 24; Kansas, Fort
Riley, May 22 and Stafford County, June 6; Nebraska, Lincoln, May 20,
Republican Fork, May 25, and Valentine, May 25; South Dakota,
Forestburg, May 27, and Vermilion, June 5; North Dakota, Charlson, June
1; Manitoba, Reaburn, June 6, Duck Mountain, June 8, and Shoal Lake,
June 20; and Saskatchewan, Kutanajan Lake, June 9, and Quill Lake, June
10.
_Fall migration._--Early fall arrivals are: Saskatchewan, Indian Head,
July 1; Texas, Tivoli, August 17; Minnesota, St. Vincent, August 4;
Wisconsin, Lake Koshkonong, August 1; Iowa, Marshalltown, August 19, and
Keokuk, August 21; Ontario, Toronto, August 23; Michigan, Lansing, July
29; Massachusetts, Marthas Vineyard, July 16, and Ipswich, July 24;
Rhode Island, Providence, July 18, and Block Island, July 27; New York,
Orient, July 24; New Jersey, Long Beach, July 7; Pennsylvania, Erie,
August 29; Florida, Palma Sola, August 27; Paraguay, near Puerto
Pinasco, September 6; and Patagonia, Orange Bay, September 9.
Late departures in the fall are: Mackenzie, Slave River, October 1;
Saskatchewan, Eastend, September 12; Manitoba, Shoal Lake, September 21;
Minnesota, Hallock, October 16; Iowa, Marshalltown, November 7; Ontario,
Toronto, November 2, and Ottawa, November 5; Ohio, Columbus, October 28,
and North Lima, October 29; Ungava, Koksoak River, October 20; Baffin
Island, Pangnirtung Fiord, September 25; Labrador, Battle Harbor,
October 29; and Quebec, Montreal, October 31; Maine, Lake Umbagog,
October 14, and Bangor, October 23; Massachusetts, Lynn, October 12,
Boston, October 22, Harvard, October 24, and Cape Cod, November 10;
Connecticut, Branford, October 23, and East Hartford, October 30; New
York, Ithaca, October 16, Quogue, October 30, Shinnecock Bay, October
30, Oneida Lake, November 3, and Canandaigua, November 4; Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, October 10, and Erie, October 29; District of Columbia,
Anacostia, October 24; Virginia, Lake Drummond, November 5; Ohio,
Columbus, November 15; North Carolina, Church's Island, October 7, and
Raleigh, December 7; South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, October 17, and
Frogmore, October 24; Georgia, Savannah, October 9; and Florida, St.
Augustine, December 2.
_Casual records._--Although probably on the migrational highway, records
of the white-rumped sandpiper in Central America, the West Indies, and
Lesser Antilles are so few that in these places it can only be
considered as a casual visitor. Specimens are in the British Museum from
Lion Hill, Panama; Momotombo, Nicaragua; and Tizimin and Cozumel Island,
Mexico. It also has been observed or taken on the islands of Barbados
(September 20 and 22, year?); Dominica (November 5, 1904); St. Lucia;
Guadeloupe; Martinique; Trinidad; Porto Rico (Mayaguez, October 2, 1900,
and Culebrita, April 15, 1912); Cuba; the Bahamas (Inagua, May 27, 1879,
and Fortune Island, August 5, 1876); and the Bermuda Islands. Examples
were reported from the Yellowstone River, Montana, August 8 to 13, 1878;
it has been taken at Laramie, Wyo.; in New Mexico (Fort Fillmore,
October, 1852, and Zuni Mountains, September 16, 1851); and there are
several records for eastern Colorado. The specimen reported from
Oakland, Calif., was probably the Pectoral sandpiper, _P. maculata_. One
was taken at Hopedale, Labrador.
White-rumped sandpipers have been reported in the British Isles fourteen
or fifteen times and a specimen was taken in Franz Josef Land on June 28
(year unknown, but prior to 1898).
_Egg dates._--Arctic Canada: 14 records, June 15 to July 24; 7 records,
June 30 to July 12. Alaska: 2 records, June 25.
PISOBIA BAIRDI (Coues)
BAIRD SANDPIPER
HABITS
_Spring._--This sandpiper belongs to that class of birds which Abel
Chapman (1924) so aptly terms "globe spanners," for on its migrations
its traverses the whole length of both American continents twice a year.
From its wintering grounds in Patagonia it must start north even earlier
than the preceding species or else it must travel faster. Dr. Alexander
Wetmore (1926) observed it migrating past Buenos Aires on March 5 in
company with white-rumped sandpipers, and it has been known to reach
Texas early in March. From there its course seems to be northward
between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. A.G. Lawrence
tells me that it passes through Manitoba between April 28 and May 29;
and J.A. Munro gives me, as his spring dates for southern British
Columbia, April 30 to May 10. Prof. William Rowan (Mss.) calls it
extremely abundant in Alberta about the middle of May and usually gone
by the 24th. It is very rare east of the Mississippi in the spring. E.A.
Preble (1908) saw large flocks foraging on floating ice at Lake
Athabaska on May 25. Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) records it at the Kowak
River, Alaska, on May 20. Joseph Dixon (1917) says:
On May 31, 1914, at Griffin Point, Arctic Alaska, the first pair of
Baird sandpipers for the season were noted feeding along the rim of
a frozen tundra pond. The weather had turned bitterly cold during
the previous night, and as a result the newly formed ice on the
ponds was thick enough to support a man. Strictly speaking, there
was no night at this date, for the two months of continuous
daylight had already begun; so in a short time the sandpipers were
bustling about picking up the mosquito and other pupae which were
being washed out by a newly-born stream that gurgled under the snow
and ice on its way down to the frozen lagoon.
_Courtship._--Two somewhat different accounts of the courtship of this
species have been published. W. Sprague Brooks (1915), who found this
bird breeding at Demarcation Point, Alaska, writes:
Only once did I note any courtship activity. On this occasion (May
24), the male would fly a few feet above the female, while she
rested on the ground, with quick erratic wing strokes suggesting a
nighthawk. Frequently he would alight and raise the wings high over
the back as a gull does before folding them. Then with the forearms
perpendicular, the primaries would be slowly raised and lowered
like a pump handle, generally lowered to right angles with the
forearms, sometimes lower. Not a sound was uttered.
Alfred M. Bailey (1926), whose observations were made at Cape Prince of
Wales, Alaska, says:
Cutting down the opposite side of the ridge, I heard many calls
which reminded me of home in the early spring, for the combined
totals sounded like the singing of many little grass frogs in a
meadow pond. It was the call, or rather the "spring song," of the
Baird sandpiper. I soon flushed a little female, which fluttered
away uttering cries of alarm. I concealed myself, and she soon
returned, the male also hovering about, making his little froglike
peep. At times he would rise high in the air, in the way so
characteristic of male sandpipers, give forth his song, and sail
down to perch.
_Nesting._--MacFarlane's notes mention seven nests found in the vicinity
of Franklin Bay, but very few data were given; "on June 24, 1864, a nest
containing four eggs was found in the Barren Grounds, in a swampy tract
between two small lakes, and was composed of a few decayed leaves placed
in a small cavity or depression in the ground, shaded by a tuft of
grass." John Murdoch (1885) says:
The nest was always well hidden in the grass and never placed in
marshy ground or on the bare black parts of tundra, and consists
merely of a slight depression in the ground, thinly lined with
dried grass. All the eggs we found were obtained from the last week
in June to the first week of July, a trifle later than the other
waders. The sitting female when disturbed exhibits the greatest
solicitude, running about with drooping, outspread wings, and loud
outcry, and uses every possible wile to attract the intruder from
the eggs. The nest is so well concealed and forms so inconspicuous
an object that the only practical way to secure the eggs is to
withdraw to one side and allow the sitting bird to return,
carefully marking where she alights. Having done this on one
occasion and failing to find the eggs, after flushing the bird two
or three times I discovered that I had walked on the eggs, though I
had been looking for them most carefully.
Mr. Brooks (1915) writes:
Two nests were found, each containing four eggs and about one
quarter incubated on June 12 and 14, 1914. Murdoch found them
nesting rather later than other waders at Point Barrow, but my
experience at Demarcation Point was quite the opposite, for here
they were the first to breed. A female taken June 2, had a fully
formed and colored egg about ready to lay. Both of the above nests
were on dry, well-drained tundra near the bases of knolls. The
nests were like the other sandpipers, and lined with dry willow
leaves, but the cavities were less deep than those of the
semipalmated sandpiper.
The female was on one nest and the male on the other. The former
left the nest when I was some distance away and flying directly
toward me alighted within a few feet. While I was at the nest she
walked hurriedly about close by constantly uttering a plaintive
_weet-weet-weet_ always repeated three times. Occasionally she
would take a short flight about me and utter a note very similar
to the rattling call of the pectoral sandpiper. The male when
disturbed acted quite differently. He sat closer and on leaving
the nest showed the greatest concern, dragging a "broken" wing in
the most distressing manner. In neither case was the mate about as
frequently occurs with the semipalmated sandpiper.
Mr. Dixon (1917) says:
At Griffin Point, less than 50 miles to the eastward of Demarcation
Point, the first set of eggs (fresh) was taken on June 24. The last
set was found July 11, with the four eggs nearly ready to hatch.
Murdoch speaks of the nests being well concealed and always hidden
in the grass. In those nests which we found, no attempt had been
made at such concealment, as they were placed absolutely in the
open, with nothing to cover or conceal the eggs at all, and the
nests so shallow that the tops of the eggs were almost or quite
level with the surrounding grass. Far from being conspicuously
exposed thereby, however, the eggs were shielded from discovery in
the most effective manner possible, for in color and markings they
blended so perfectly with the brown tundra that a person could
easily look directly at them from a distance of 6 feet and still
not be able to see them.