Upland sandpiper
| Upland sandpiper | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: |
Bartramia Lesson, 1831 |
| Species: | B. longicauda |
| Binomial name | |
|
Bartramia longicauda (Bechstein, 1812) |
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The upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) is a large sandpiper, closely related to the curlews. Older names are the upland plover and Bartram's sandpiper. In Louisiana, it is also colloquially known as the papabotte. It is the only member of the genus Bartramia. The genus name and the old common name Bartram's sandpiper commemorate the American naturalist William Bartram. The species name longicauda is from Latin longus, "long" and caudus, "tail". The name "Bartram's sandpiper" was made popular by Alexander Wilson, who was taught ornithology and natural history illustration by Bartram.
An adult is roughly 30 cm (12 in) long with a 66 cm (26 in) wingspan. The average weight is 170 g (6 oz). This odd bird has a small dove-like head on a long neck. It is heavily marbled black and brown on the back and wings. The neck is streaked with dark brown which continues down to the breast and on to the flanks. The belly and undertail coverts are white. The tail is quite long for a sandpiper. The upland also sports a white eye-ring and long yellow legs.
They breed from eastern Alaska south east of the Rocky Mountains through Montana to northern Oklahoma and then northeast to Pennsylvania, New England and extreme southern Quebec and Ontario. There are also local breeding populations in northeast Oregon and west central Idaho. They winter in northeastern Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. It is an extremely rare vagrant to the South Pacific, with one record each from Australia and New Zealand.
Even though they are sandpipers, they prefer open country with tall grasses to coastal habitat. They are also found at airports, blueberry farms and abandoned strip mines in the east. Their true core range and habitat is in the northern midwest United States.
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Wikipedia