52 Wader Study Group Bulletin wastinging a day-oldchick beside the GlentressWater, Scot- a shortdistance underwater (water depthranging from 2 to tish Borders,the soleparent guarding the chick was giving 30 cm), and emergedunscathed. alarmcalls and performing the broken-wingdistraction dis- play on the oppositeshore, about 6 m away.Suddenly a male Minton, C. 2001. Waders diving and swimming underwateras a means SparrowhawkAccipiter nisus appearedand stoopedat the of escape.Wader Study Group Bull. 96: 86. adultsandpiper, which promptly dived into the stream,swam

Common Sandpipers also dive to escape danger: in

D.W. YALDEN

School of BiologicalSciences, 3.238 StopfordBuilding, VictoriaUniversity of , M13 9PT, UK, e-maih d. w.yalden @man. ac. uk

The note by Clive Minton (Minton 2001) recordingdiving On 12 July 1997, also on the River Ashop, a recently to escapepredation or captureby OystercatchersHaema- fledgedbird was retrappedin a mistnetset acrossthe fiver. topus ostralegus and a Black-winged Stilt Himantopus On releaseit flew only about20 m beforeflopping into the himantopusprompts me to report five similar recordsfor water and swimmingto hide amongthe rootsof a bankside CommonSandpiper Actitis hypoleucos. aldertree. At 39 g, andwith bill andwing lengthsof 22 mm On 2 April 1992, on our River Ashopstudy site in - and 105mm respectively,it appearedto be only21 daysold, shire, England (Yalden 1986), I heard a pair of Common but hadbeen finged at about5 daysold on 13 June1997, and Sandpipersin courtship,trilling on the river-bank,but ob- was thereforeactually 29 daysold. scured by Juncus vegetation. One flew upstream, and I On 16 June2001, at LadybowerReservoir, , startedto follow it to read its colourrings, but disturbeda I tried to catchtwo well-grownchicks; one eludedme by secondbird that startedto fly downstream,when it almost runninginland, the other by divinginto the water.It surfaced collidedwith a male SparrowhawkAccipter nisus coming about20 m offshoreand swam round to the shorelinejust out upstream.The sandpiperdived vertically into the fiver where of sight,whither I ran andcaught it. At 31.5 g, bill 17.5mm thewater was relatively deep and the hawk landed, frustrated, and wing 58 mm, it was about14 daysold. besidethe river. For aboutfive minutes,both the Sparrow- There have been other, less well remembered occasions hawk and I watchedfor the sandpiperto emergefrom the whenchicks have dived into the water as an escaperesponse, river, but then I moved and disturbedthe Sparrowhawk, thoughtheir usual tactic at 7+ daysold is to run for coverand which flew off upstream.I returnedfive minuteslater, and freeze. However, it is clear that, from about 14 daysold, by circlinground, located the sandpipersitting tight to the CommonSandpiper chicks can dive, swim underwater,and groundbetween clumps of Juncusalongside some rippling swimvery ablyon the surface,in orderto escapedanger and shallows about 20 m downstream. I presume that it had theyretain this ability as adults. Long ago, Moggridge (1851) emerged from the water, using the ripples and Juncusas recordeda caseof a CommonSandpiper avoiding a Kestrel cover. It was very reluctantto fly, but eventuallyflew off Falco tinnunculusby divinginto a fiver. Also, Spenceret al. downstreamwhen I got too close. ( 1951) reportedtwo instancesof CommonSandpipers bath- On 11 July 1993, at Howden Reservoir,Derbyshire, I ing underwater. tried to catcha well-grownchick, estimatedat 15 daysold, As riparian birds, Common Sandpipersperhaps have as it tried to hide in the remnantsof a dry stonewall fight at moreopportunity for usingthe tactic of divingas a meansof the water's edge.To my surprise,it divedinto thewater, and escapethan mostwaders. reappearedabout 50 m offshore,swimming high in thewater Although wadersdo not have full webbing,most have like a phalaropePhalaropus spp. It swamfurther away from somebetween the third andfourth toes, and the phalaropes the shore,evidently concerned at my continuedpresence. I swim very competentlywith not muchmore webbing than do not know whether it crossed to the further shore or circled sandpipers. back to the same shore or drowned. On 20 July 1996, on the River Ashop, I went to catcha Minton, C. 2001. Wadersdiving and swimmingunderwater as a means fledgling Common Sandpiperthat I had seenhide in the of escape.Wader Study Group Bull. 96: 86. banksidevegetation as it landed.It divedinto the water at my Moggridge, M. 1851. The Kestril (sic) in pursuitof prey.Ann. Mag. Nat Hist. (2) 7: 501. feet, and swam about 5 m downstreamwhen I caught it Spencer, K.G. & Harrison, T.E.D.; King, B. 1951. Dipper-likebehav- underwateras it startedto surface.It was, like Minton's Pied iour of CommonSandiper. Brit. Birds 44: 414-415. Oystercatchers,quite dry. With a bill of 19.5mm, wing Yalden,D.W. 1986.The habitat and activity of CommonSandpipers Actitts 81 mm andmass 40 g, I estimatedit was 20 daysold. hypoleucosbreeding by uplandstreams. Bird Study33: 214-222.

Line art: p. 3 M. Dementiev;p. 5 C.M. Wojak;p. 7 E.A. Koblik,p. 14E.A. Koblik;p. 41 E.A. Koblik;p. 44 M. Dementiev; p. 46 M. Dementieiv;p. 50 A. De Faveri.

Bulletin 97 April 2002 52