1394 STILT SANDPIPER Calidris himantopus
AUSTRALIA 816
The stilt sandpiper breeds in the open arctic tundra of North America in northern Alaska and northern Canada. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering mainly in central South America from southern Peru across to southern Brazil, south to northern Chile and northern Argentina; small numbers also winter further north, in California, Texas, Florida, and Mexico. On migration, flocks stop to rest and feed at the muddy margins of freshwater pools, mainly in the eastern states and provinces of the US and Canada, but also small numbers west to the Pacific coast. It occurs as a rare vagrant in western Europe, Japan and Australia.
It forages on muddy pool margins, picking up food by sight, often jabbing like the dowitchers with which it often associates. They mainly eat insects, other invertebrates (such as molluscs), seeds, and the leaves and roots of aquatic plants.
NOTE: Possibly fourth record for Australia. Seen and identified well by several birders through the scope. However poor conditions and the weather made photographs unreliable.
