The pectoral sandpiper is a very long-distance migrant breeding in the boggy tundra of northeast Asia and North America. The American and most of the Asian birds winter in South America, but some Asian breeders winter in Australia and New Zealand. On migration and in winter, the Pectoral Sandpiper is typically found in freshwater habitats.
This species also occurs as a regular migrant to western Europe, and is not considered as a rarity in Ireland or Great Britain.
Most of the Arctic waders travel to and from New Zealand via the western edge of the Pacific, on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, making coastal stopovers to rest and feed along the way. The staging sites are vital for the birds to be able to continue their journeys and return home to breed again. Pressure from expanding human populations at many sites has led to a steady deterioration of the birds’ habitat. A combination of housing and industrial development, pollution, land reclamation on mudflats, changes to water flows and increased risk from predators at these stopping points has meant that fewer birds can feed and rest before the next stage of the journey. The result has been a decline in bird populations.
Several international organisations have attempted to protect some waders’ habitats along the course of flyways such as the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. So far, six New Zealand sites were included in the Ramsar Convention as Wetlands of International Importance: the Firth of Thames, Kopuatai Peat Dome, Whangamarino, Manawatu Estuary, Farewell Spit, and Waituna Lagoon.
Other common names: —
Actodromas maculata, Erolia melanotos, Tringa maculata
Description: —
Native bird
23 cm., 80 gs., grey breast, sharply demarcated at its lower edge, which gives this species its English name, legs are yellowish, bill olive,darker tip,juveniles are more brightly patterned above with rufous colouration and white mantle stripes,differs from sharp-tailed sandpiper in its breast pattern, weaker supercilium and greyer crown.
Where to find: —
Regular summer visitor to NZ, tidals flats, brackish pools, and margins of coastal lakes, mainly at Firth of Thames, Lake Ellesmere.
Youtube video —
Poetry: —
Sandpiper
The roaring alongside he takes for granted,
and that every so often the world is bound to shake.
He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward,
in a state of controlled panic, a student of Blake.
The beach hisses like fat. On his left, a sheet
of interrupting water comes and goes
and glazes over his dark and brittle feet.
He runs, he runs straight through it, watching his toes.
–Watching, rather, the spaces of sand between them
where (no detail too small) the Atlantic drains
rapidly backwards and downwards. As he runs,
he stares at the dragging grains.
The world is a mist. And then the world is
minute and vast and clear. The tide
is higher or lower. He couldn't tell you which.
His beak is focussed; he is preoccupied,
looking for something, something, something.
Poor bird, he is obsessed!
The millions of grains are black, white, tan, and gray
mixed with quartz grains, rose and amethyst.
— Elizabeth Bishop
Illustration description: —
Dresser, Henry Eeles, A History Of The Birds Of Europe, Including All The Species Inhabiting The Western Region, 1871-1881.
Gould, John, The Birds of Australia, 1848.
Reference(s): —
Heather, B., & Robertson, H., Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand, 2000.
Readers Digest Complete Book of NZ Birds, 1985.
Page date & version: —
Wednesday, 4 June 2014; ver2009v1