The Status and Occurrence of Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) in British Columbia
by Rick Toochin
Read the full article, with photos, on our Vagrant Birds page.
Introduction and Distribution
The Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is an elegant species of shorebird that breeds from Taymyr Peninsula in the central Russian Arctic, east along the shorelines of the Arctic Ocean to the coastline of the Chukotka Peninsula in the Russian Far East and has bred in Alaska at Barrow, Oliktok Point and Deadhorse (Hayman et al. 1986, Paulson 2005, O’Brien et al. 2006, West 2008, Brazil 2009). This species is highly migratory with the entire breeding population moving south over a large area of both Europe and Asia to spend the winter from Sub-Sahara Africa, east through coastal regions of India, into Bangladesh, Burma, throughout Southeast Asia and south into Australia and New Zealand (Hayman et al. 1986, Paulson 2005, O’Brien et al. 2006, Brazil 2009). Small groups of birds are also known to winter in Israel, Iraq and occasionally in Western Europe (O’Brien et al. 2006). In North America, the Curlew Sandpiper is a regular vagrant along the Atlantic coast with scattered records for the interior states and Provinces (O’Brien et al. 2006). Along the west coast, the Curlew Sandpiper is a rare species in Alaska where it is considered a casual migrant in the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea regions as well as the northern regions of the state (West 2008). The Curlew Sandpiper is ever rare in the southeastern regions of the state and is considered accidental in the southern Panhandle region of Alaska (West 2008.) South of Alaska, the Curlew Sandpiper is a rare bird with California having only thirty-three accepted records (Hamilton et al. 2007). There are only sixteen accepted records for Oregon, and Washington has only ten accepted records (Wahl et al. 2005, OFO 2012, WBRC 2012). Birds have been found both along the coastline and inland down the west coast of North America (Roberson 1980). In British Columbia, the Curlew Sandpiper is an accidental species that is rarely reported with the first record since September 1993, occurring in September 2013, showing how infrequently this Siberian gem is encountered in the Province (Toochin et al. 2013).
