First Record of the Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris Ferruginea) in Utah, With

First record of the Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)in Utah, with comments on its occurrence in North America

Tex A. Sordahl

N AUGUST6, 1978, at 5:30p.m., while p.m. I returned with several observers,but censusing shorebirds at The Barrens could not locate the bird. Nor did I see •t on Ponds, about 3 km west of Amalga, Cache subsequent days. County, Utah, I observed a small bird with an Rare shorebird sightingson The Barrens exceptionally decurved bill (Fig. 1). Initially Ponds are usually associated with stormy thinking it to be a Dunlin (Calidris alpinua), I weather (unpubl. data). But in this case local watched it at about 70 m with a 20X spotting weather consisted of cloudless skies, warm scope for 20 min. It possessedseveral sus- daytime air temperatures(about 34ø C), and picious characteristicsrelative to Dunlin I had moderate winds from July 23 to August 9 A seen: (1) the bill was more slender and more stationary front had persisted over the region decurved; (2) the neck and legsseemed longer, for several days. the posture more erect, and the gait less of a The Curlew Sandpiper does not appear on waddle; (3) the superciliumseemed lighter. In the Utah Check-list (Behle and Perry 1975), •ts full basic (= winter) plumage it looked and to my knowledge this representsthe first remarkably similar to (though more brownish state record for the species. than) nearby Wilson's Phalaropes (Phalaro- HE CURLEWSANDPIPER, which breeds pus tricolor), thus emphasizingits slenderbill, chiefly in northeasternSiberia and winters long neck and legs, and light supercilium(see widely in southernAsia and beyondto Austra- Fig. I for this comparison). When I waded out lia and New Zealand as well as in Africa and to flush the bird, it quickly flew up above eye Madagascar (A.O.U. 1957), has generally level againstthe glareof the water, and directly been considered a casual visitor to the eastern away from me so that its dorsal aspectwas not coast of North America and accidental in visible. The bird was not seen again that day. Alaska. In a survey of the literature I found When I returned the following day at 3:00 records from 25 statesand six provinces. Most p.m., the bird was bathingin shallowwater at records are indeed from Atlantic (New Bruns- the same location, clearly displaying the wick, Nova Scotia, Qu6bec, Maine, Massa- diagnosticwhite rump of a Curlew Sandpiper chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New (Calidris ferruginea). During the next hour I York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, observedthe bird carefully with a 20X spotting Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia) and Gulf scope. It was associatingwith a looseflock of Coast (Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas) about 20 Wilson's Phalaropes.It dominated8 statesor provincesor from statesor provinces out of 8 interactions with the slightly larger associated with the Great Lakes (Ontario, phalaropes, displacing or supplantingthem. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin) The bird was quite tame, allowing me to The records I found for western North America approachwithin 30 m. I photographedit, and are given in Table 1. Two significantpoints flushedit four times. The rump and baseof the emergefrom a considerationof thesedistribu- tall were whitish, and the terminal portion of tional data: (1) truly western sightings have the tail was darkly flecked with gray. At 7:00 been largely coastal, with the Intermountain

Volume32, Number 5 1065 West forminga gapin the record(prior to th•s more pars•momousto assumean "Al-Can" Utah sighting),and (2) sightingshave prolife- route. The fact that this bird is more common rated in the last decade. The extent to which in the spring along the East Coast (Palmer thesepoints reflect the growingpopularity of 1967),whereas most of the westernrecords birdwatching, better communicationand outside Alaska seemto be fall migrants(Table reportingthrough such efforts as the American 1), lendssupport to the ideathat thesemay be Btrds Seasonal Reports, and a dearth of separatephenomena. Spring recordsin the observers in the Intermountain West is West could be accountedfor by PacificOcean unknown. However, it is of specialinterest crossingsor birds overwinteringin South that smallpopulations of CurlewSandpipers America (there is a recordfrom Patagonia) nested in Alaska in 1962 (Holmes and Pitelka The CurlewSandpiper is a wanderer,and as 1964) and 1972 (AB 26:891). All nestswere such it may turn up almostanywhere. But •f apparentlypredated in 1962but the 1972 the recentbreeding attempts in Alaskaand the breeding effort was successful. Sightings burgeoningnumber of sightingsto the south have been fairly regular since then (Table 1), indicate a trend, observersin westernNorth perhapsdue to a risein the numberof observers America shouldbe increasinglyon the lookout m northern Alaska (Pitelka, pets. cornre). for this species. Holmes and Pitelka (1964) presentedevidence suggestingthat Curlew Sandpipershad not Acknowledgements occurred near Barrow since about 1897 Y SHOREBIRDSTUDIES have been sup- (except perhaps for an occasional vagrant ported by the Frank M. Chapman •nd•viduallike a specimentaken in 1956).They Memorial Fund of the American Museum of suggestedthat the 1962breeding attempt was a Natural History, andby SigmaXi, The Scien- novel situation in that well-studied area. One tific Research Society of North America I would assume, although it is by no means thank Keith L. Dixon, Frank A. Pitelka,and proven, that birds appearingin easternNorth KimberlyG. Smithfor commentingon th•s America arrived via a trans-Atlantic flight. manuscript.Howard L. Cogswellconfirmed However, for the western records it would be the California records.

Table 1. Published records of Curlew Sandpiper occurrence in western North America.

State or Province Date Reference

Alaska June 6, 1883 Murdoch 1885 June 25, 1956 Holmes and Pitelka 1964 nested in 1962 Holmes and Pitelka 1964 nested in 1972 AB 26:796,891; AB 27:103 June 9, 1973 AB 27:906 June 1, 1974 AB 28:936 August 4-5, 1975 AB 30:111 September 11, 1977 AB 32:244 Alberta June 18 1969 Aud. FieM Notes 23:670 British Columbia July 31, 1936 Brooks 1937 July 30-31, 1977 AB 32:247 California September7, 1966 Small 1974 September16-17, 1972 AB 27:115 April 27-28, 1974 AB 28:852 September7-14, 1974 AB 29:114 Kansas August3, 1972 AB 26:873 (lst specimen,2 previoussight records) Oregon July 21 and AB 31:214 August16, 1976(same individual?) South Dakota May 14, 1972 AB 27:77 Utah August 6-7, 1978 this paper Washington May 10, 1972 Meyer 1973;AB 26:784

1066 AmericanBirds, September 1978 H•lp Audubonprotect our naturalheritage AUDUBON LIFE INCOME FUND Give yourselflife-long income and tax savingsby givingAudubon enduring support

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WriteNatlona Au(u ongo(iet --Deveo)ment De)t 9 ! . -' ß Fig. 1. Twoviews of a CurlewSandpiper (left, with Wilson's Phalaropes), Cache County, Utah, August 6-7, 1978.Note long-legged,long-necked appearance and strongly decurved bill. Photo/TexA. Sordahl.

Literature Cited Meyer, D. 1973. Observations of two rare sand- pipers in eastern Washington. Murrelet 54:2 I- American Ornithologists' Union Check-list Com- mittee. 1957. Check-list of North American Murdoch, J. 1885. Birds. Pp. 104-128in P.H. Ray, birds, 5th ed. Lord Baltimore Press, Baltimore. Report of the InternationalPolar Expeditionto Behle. W.H. and M.L. Perry. 1975. Utah birds: Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, D.C. check-list, seasonal and ecological occurrence Palmer, R.S. 1967.Species accounts. In The Shore- charts and guidesto bird finding. Utah Museum birdsof North America (G.D. Stout, ed.), Viking of Natural History, Salt Lake City. Press. New York. Brooks, A. 1937. Pacific Golden Plover and Curlew Small, A. 1974. The birds of California. Macmillan Sandpiper on the Pacific Coast of North Publishing Co., New York. America. Condor 39:176-177. Holmes, R.T. and F.A. Pitelka. 1964. Breeding --Dept. of Biology UMC 53 and The behavior and taxonomic relationships of the Ecology Center, Utah State Univ., Logan Curlew Sandpiper.Auk 81:362-379. 84322.

1068 American Birds, September 1978