Curlew Sandpipers
The Curlew Sandpiper is a small wader which is slightly larger than the Dunlin but differing from the Dunlin in having a longer down-curved bill, longer neck and legs and a white rump. The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and brick-red underparts. In winter, it is pale grey above and white below and shows an obvious white supercilium. Juveniles have a grey and brown back, a white belly and a peach-coloured breast.
Of all shorebird species, the Curlew Sandpiper has the smallest breeding range in relation to its non-breeding range. After breeding on the tundra of Arctic Siberia, these birds migrate south to Africa, Australasia or India.
This Curlew Sandpiper is highly gregarious and will form flocks with other calidrid waders, particularly Dunlin. Despite its easterly breeding range, the Curlew Sandpiper is a regular passage migrant to coastal marshes in western Europe, including the UK.
Date: 2nd May 2012
Location: Salinas de Bonanza near Jerez de la Frontera, Andalucia, Spain
Of all shorebird species, the Curlew Sandpiper has the smallest breeding range in relation to its non-breeding range. After breeding on the tundra of Arctic Siberia, these birds migrate south to Africa, Australasia or India.
This Curlew Sandpiper is highly gregarious and will form flocks with other calidrid waders, particularly Dunlin. Despite its easterly breeding range, the Curlew Sandpiper is a regular passage migrant to coastal marshes in western Europe, including the UK.
Date: 2nd May 2012
Location: Salinas de Bonanza near Jerez de la Frontera, Andalucia, Spain
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Also in: South and west Spain - April and May 2012
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