Movements and Migration

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is a very long distance migrant between northeastern Russian Far East and Australasia, with much of this distance covered in long-distance flights. Adults leave the breeding grounds first, taking a a more-or-less direct route to the nonbreeding areas, whereas the young take a very different route, migrating nearly due east to Alaska to gain weight and stage before undertaking a 9,800 km flight overwater to the Australasian nonbreeding grounds.

Initial Dispersal From Natal Site

Little information available.

Fidelity To Breeding Site And Winter Home Range

No information specific to this species during breeding season. Given the similarity of its breeding habits to those of the Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos), breeding site fidelity is likely low. On the wintering grounds, birds shift their feeding sites based on changing local conditions (43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close , 69 Reid, P. (2019). Changes in wetland use by shorebirds following mangrove removal, Area E, Ash Island, New South Wales. The Whistler 13:62–68. Close ), and so site fidelity seems unlikely.

Dispersal From Breeding Site or Colony

No information.

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is a very long-distance migrant, flying over 10,000 km from its breeding grounds in the northeastern Russian Far East to its wintering grounds in Australasia. Adults leave the breeding grounds from late June through July and fly more-or-less directly (with stopovers) to Australasia. Juveniles depart their natal area during August, and fly in a rather different direction, nearly straight eastward, to coastal western Alaska, where they stage for one to two months before undertaking an overwater flight of up to 9,800 km to their Australasia wintering grounds (3 Lindström, Å., Gill, R.E., Jamieson, S.E., McCaffery, B., Wennerberg, L., Wikelski, M. and Klaassen, M. (2011). A puzzling migratory detour: are fueling conditions in Alaska driving the movement of juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers? Condor. 113(1): 129–139. Close ). Only one other species, the European Honey-buzzard (Pernis apivorus) is known to have an age-differential migration that involves a totally different geographical route (6 Schmid H 2000 Getrennte Wege: Der Herbstzug von juvenilen und adulten Wespenbuzzarden Pernis apivorus - eine Synthese. Ornithol. Beob. 97:191-222 Close , 7 Hake, M., N. Kjellén, and T. Alerstam (2003). Age-dependent migration strategy in honey buzzards Pernis apivorus tracked by satellite. Oikos 103:385 – 396 Close ). Northbound migration is the same for all age groups and is similar to the southbound path taken by adults in reverse, but shifted eastward.

Adult Fall Migration

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper adults depart their Siberian breeding grounds from late June through July, with most males leaving during early July and most females departing during late July (70 Flint, V. E. and P. S. Tomkovich. (1978). [Comparative-ecological essay on the Pectoral Sandpiper and the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper]. Arch. Zool. Mus., Moscow State Univ. 17:73-118. Close , 61 Flint, V.E. and Tomkovich, P.S. (1982). [Ecological and ethological isolation in the Pectoral Sandpiper and the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper]. Pp. 241–261 in: Gavrilov, V.M. & Potapov, R.L. eds. (1982). [Ornithological Studies of the USSR]. Vol. 2. Zoological Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow. In Russian. Close , 43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ). They migrate south on a broad front from eastern Russia (primarily east of Lake Baikal) to central Japan, south through eastern Mongolia and eastern China, and then onwards to the Philippines, western and central Micronesia, and New Guinea before reaching the wintering grounds, which are predominantly in Australia (71 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close , 63 Brazil, M. (1991). The Birds of Japan. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close , 43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ). A small number stop short of Australia to winter in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Taiwan, while a few others go to New Zealand rather than Australia (43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close , 44 Kennedy, R. S., P. C. Gonzales, E. C. Dickinson, H. C. Miranda, and T. H. Fisher (2000). A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York. Close , 8 Bamford, M., D. Watkins, W. Bancroft, G. Tischler, and J. Wahl (2008). Migratory shorebirds of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway: population estimates and internationally important sites. Wetlands International, Canberra, Australia. Close , eBird data, accessed 14 January 2022). During July (predominantly mid-to-late July) the first adults appear in Mongolia and northeastern China, where they can be found throughout the month of August. By mid-August, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper adults appear along their entire migratory route south of Mongolia and northeast China, as well as at their "wintering" grounds; by the third to fourth week of September, few are still en route and most have already arrived at their wintering areas (43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close , eBird data, accessed 14 January 2022). Additionally, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper adults are a scare fall straggler west to Thailand and Malaysia, mostly from mid-August through late October, but with some birds lingering through December (eBird data, accessed 16 January 2022).

Juvenile Fall Migration

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper juveniles leave their breeding grounds during August, primarily during the latter half of the month (70 Flint, V. E. and P. S. Tomkovich. (1978). [Comparative-ecological essay on the Pectoral Sandpiper and the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper]. Arch. Zool. Mus., Moscow State Univ. 17:73-118. Close , 61 Flint, V.E. and Tomkovich, P.S. (1982). [Ecological and ethological isolation in the Pectoral Sandpiper and the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper]. Pp. 241–261 in: Gavrilov, V.M. & Potapov, R.L. eds. (1982). [Ornithological Studies of the USSR]. Vol. 2. Zoological Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow. In Russian. Close , 43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ). Extraordinarily, the vast majority of juveniles take a rather different route during fall migration than do adults, initially heading approximately 2,300 km east to the Pacific Coast of Alaska to stage for a month or so before embarking on a southbound overwater flight of up to 9,800 km to their "wintering" grounds (3 Lindström, Å., Gill, R.E., Jamieson, S.E., McCaffery, B., Wennerberg, L., Wikelski, M. and Klaassen, M. (2011). A puzzling migratory detour: are fueling conditions in Alaska driving the movement of juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers? Condor. 113(1): 129–139. Close ). Juveniles arrive in Alaska from mid-August into early September (72 Gill, Jr., R. E. (1996). "Alaska shorebirds: status and conservation measures at a terminus of the East Asian-Australasian flyway." In Conservation of migratory waterbirds and their wetland habitats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway., edited by D. R. Wells and T. Mundkur, 21-42. Tokyo: Wetlands Int.-Asia Pacific, Kuala Lumpur, Publ. no. 116, and Int. Waterfowl Wetlands Res. Bur.-Japan Comm. Close ). Peak numbers on the Alaska staging grounds occur earlier to the north and later to the south, suggesting a slow movement southward: The peak at Kotzebue Sound is during early September, at the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta it is during mid-September, and on the Alaska Peninsula numbers peak during late September and early October (72 Gill, Jr., R. E. (1996). "Alaska shorebirds: status and conservation measures at a terminus of the East Asian-Australasian flyway." In Conservation of migratory waterbirds and their wetland habitats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway., edited by D. R. Wells and T. Mundkur, 21-42. Tokyo: Wetlands Int.-Asia Pacific, Kuala Lumpur, Publ. no. 116, and Int. Waterfowl Wetlands Res. Bur.-Japan Comm. Close , 62 Handel, C. M., and R. E. Gill, Jr. (2010). Wayward Youth: Trans-Beringian Movement and Differential Southward Migration by Juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Arctic 63:273-288. Close ). This departure from Alaska to the Australasian wintering grounds begins during late September and peaks during mid-October to early November (62 Handel, C. M., and R. E. Gill, Jr. (2010). Wayward Youth: Trans-Beringian Movement and Differential Southward Migration by Juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Arctic 63:273-288. Close ), with an extreme late date of 19 December (73 Kessel, B., and D. D. Gibson (1978). Status and Distribution of Alaska Birds. Studies in Avian Biology 1. Cooper Ornithological Society, Las Cruces, New Mexico. iv, 100 pp. Close , 74 Gibson, D. D. (1979). Alaska Region. American Birds 34:190-191. Close ). Juveniles generally leave their Alaskan staging grounds headed in a southeasterly direction, which takes them towards Hawaii, where they normally encounter clockwise winds that then redirect them towards Micronesia and the Solomon Islands and, finally, to their wintering grounds (75 Grönroos, J., R. Muheim, and S. Åkesson (2010). Orientation and autumn migration routes of juvenile sharp-tailed sandpipers at a staging site in Alaska. Journal of Experimental Biology. 213:1829–1835. Close ). As predicted, juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are uncommon to common fall migrants on both the northwestern and southeastern Hawaiian islands from early October through late November (57 Pyle, R. L., and P. Pyle (2017). The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status. Version 2. B. P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI, USA. Close ; eBird data, accessed 17 January 2022). The arced migratory route of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper juveniles is similar to the southbound migratory routes of Bristle-thighed Curlew (Numenius tahitiensis), and Alaska-breeding Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) (4 McCaffery, B. J. (2008). On scimitar wings: long-distance migration by the bar-tailed godwit and bristle-thighed curlew. Birding 40:50–59. Close , 5 Gill Jr., R.E., Tibbitts, T.L. , Douglas, D.C. , Handel, C.M. , Mulcahy, D.M. , Gottschalck, J.C. , Warnock, N., McCaffery, B.J. , Battley, P.F. and Piersma, T. (2009). Extreme endurance flights by landbirds crossing the Pacific Ocean: ecological corridor rather than barrier? Proc. Royal Soc. London (Ser. B Biol. Sci.). 276: 447–457. Close ). Indeed, adaptive use of wind-drift may well be widely used among arctic-breeding waders with long migration routes (76 Green, M., T. Alerstam, G. A. Gudmundsson, A. Hedenström, and T. Piersma (2004). Do Arctic waders use adaptive wind drift? Journal of Avian Biology 35:305–315. Close ).

The timing of departure from any given area in Alaska coincides with the long-term average onset of freezing (62 Handel, C. M., and R. E. Gill, Jr. (2010). Wayward Youth: Trans-Beringian Movement and Differential Southward Migration by Juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Arctic 63:273-288. Close ). The reasons behind the differing southward paths of juveniles and adults may well be related to their different departure dates from Siberia and the subsequent effects on refueling opportunities, flying conditions, and predation; differences in the fitness consequences secondary to the arrival time of adults versus juveniles may well also play a role (62 Handel, C. M., and R. E. Gill, Jr. (2010). Wayward Youth: Trans-Beringian Movement and Differential Southward Migration by Juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Arctic 63:273-288. Close , 3 Lindström, Å., Gill, R.E., Jamieson, S.E., McCaffery, B., Wennerberg, L., Wikelski, M. and Klaassen, M. (2011). A puzzling migratory detour: are fueling conditions in Alaska driving the movement of juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers? Condor. 113(1): 129–139. Close ). Additionally, a few Sharp-tailed Sandpiper juveniles occur regularly along the North American Pacific Coast south of Alaska (20–30 annually as of 2000), with most found from southern coastal British Columbia into central California (largely from late August to mid-November), yet very few are found farther south; this pattern would seem to suggest that these birds reorient rather than continue south along the eastern Pacific coastline (46 Mlodinow, S.G. (2001). Possible anywhere: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Birding 33:330-341. Close ).

Spring Migration

The first Sharp-tailed Sandpipers begin their northward trek in mid-February, with peak departure occurring during March (43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ). Most stop in northern Australia (apparently joining those birds that wintered there) before leaving the continent entirely, with the Gulf of Carpenteria being a major staging ground; migrants have largely left Australia by the end of April (43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ). In Hong Kong, the first spring migrants arrive in late March, with peak numbers present from late April through mid-May, and a few lingerers present as late as early June, with none oversummering (77 Carey, G. J., M. L. Chalmers, D. A. Diskin, P. R. Kennerley, P. J. Leader, M. R. Leven, R. W. Lewthwaite, D. S. Melville, M. Turnbull, and L. Young (2001). The Avifauna of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, Hong Kong. Close ). Similarly, in Japan, the first spring migrants appear in late March, with peak numbers present from late April through late May, and a few birds lingering into early June, but none oversummering (eBird data, accessed 17 January 2022). Looking at data along a broader front, there is not much movement in March north of Australasia, but by the end of April, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers have migrated as far north as the Korean Peninsula, southern Japan, and the north end of the Yellow Sea in China (eBird data, accessed 17 January 2022). By the end of May, the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has started to arrive on its breeding grounds (71 Hayman, P., J. Marchant, and T. Prater (1986). Shorebirds. An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World. Croom Helm, London, UK. Close ), but a small number remain scattered along the northbound migratory route (eBird data, accessed 17 January 2022). Notably, the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is less common in spring than fall in New Guinea (78 Beehler, B. M., T. K. Pratt, and D. A. Zimmerman (1986). Birds of New Guinea. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), but more common during spring in Hong Kong and South Korea (77 Carey, G. J., M. L. Chalmers, D. A. Diskin, P. R. Kennerley, P. J. Leader, M. R. Leven, R. W. Lewthwaite, D. S. Melville, M. Turnbull, and L. Young (2001). The Avifauna of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, Hong Kong. Close , 79 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Birds in Korea, accessed 14 January 2022 (http://birdsinkorea.com/eng/html/index/) Close ), and eBird records from inland China and Mongolia are few, all of which suggests that the northbound route is shifted to the east of the southbound route (eBird data, accessed 17 January 2022). A small number of birds, presumably largely first-year birds, remain on their Australian "wintering" grounds and do not migrate northwards (43 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ).

No specific information.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper juveniles use both a "sun-compass" and a magnetic compass for orientation during their southbound migration from western Alaska (75 Grönroos, J., R. Muheim, and S. Åkesson (2010). Orientation and autumn migration routes of juvenile sharp-tailed sandpipers at a staging site in Alaska. Journal of Experimental Biology. 213:1829–1835. Close ). The only other shorebird demonstrated to use a magnetic compass, as of 2010, was the Sanderling (Calidris alba) (80 Gudmundsson, G. A., and R. Sandberg (2000). Sanderlings (Calidris alba) have a magnetic compass: orientation experiments during spring migration in Iceland. Journal of Experimental Biology 203:3137–3144. Close ). The departure of Sharp-tailed Sandpiperjuveniles from their staging grounds is likely driven by the presence of favorable winds at a time when the birds are in a good physiologic state (i.e., have adequate fat stores), and when such conditions are present, some depart from the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta and bypass staging areas up to 600 km farther south (75 Grönroos, J., R. Muheim, and S. Åkesson (2010). Orientation and autumn migration routes of juvenile sharp-tailed sandpipers at a staging site in Alaska. Journal of Experimental Biology. 213:1829–1835. Close ).