Calidris

Calidris is a genus of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds in the family Scolopacidae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds.[1]

Calidris
Red knot, Calidris canutus.
Calidris s.str. are stout birds with bold pattern in breeding plumage
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
Merrem, 1804

These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged and relatively short-billed.

Their bills have sensitive tips which contain numerous corpuscles of Herbst. This enables the birds to locate buried prey items, which they typically seek with restless running and probing.[2]

Species in taxonomic order

The genus contain 24 species:[3]

References

  1. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  2. Nebel, S.; Jackson, D.L.; Elner, R.W. (2005). "Functional association of bill morphology and foraging behaviour in calidrid sandpipers" (PDF). Animal Biology. 55 (3): 235–243. doi:10.1163/1570756054472818. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  3. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
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