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These two sandpipers are often a source of confusion for birdwatchers. The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is a common migrant to suitable habitat in the Melbourne area from August to April. The Pectoral Sandpiper is a rarer migrant, found in similar habitat to the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, though not as fond of sea coasts or bay shores. The Pectoral Sandpiper is most often seen from late November to April, although some occasionally arrive in September. Birds arriving/departing may be coming out of or into breeding plumage, but birds are mainly observed in non breeding plumage.
The following table compares some of the basic identification features, but note that both species undergo complex plumage changes with age and season that are not fully addressed by the table below.
|
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |
Pectoral Sandpiper |
Length |
17 to 22 cm |
19 to 24 cm |
Sexes
|
Similar; female smaller than male. |
Similar; female smaller than male; slight difference in gorget pattern in breeding plumage. |
Upperparts
(non-breeding)
|
Grey-brown with buff edged blackish centres to feathers of mantle, back and wing-coverts; crown dark brown; eyebrow pale. |
Similar, but generally darker than Sharp-tailed Sandpiper; crown brown to dark but never rufous. |
Upperparts (breeding)
|
Blackish dark brown feathers edged with rufous and pale buff; tertials edged with rufous; crown chestnut. |
Similar to non breeding but slightly darker and more uniform. |
Underparts
(non breeding) |
Whitish with greyish wash on breast, which is finely streaked darker. |
Similar to breeding birds, but gorget more lightly marked. |
Underparts (breeding)
|
White, heavily marked to flanks with dark chevrons or ‘v’s; clean white undertail coverts with more vermiculations than Pectoral Sandpiper. |
White from abdomen to undertail coverts; breast heavily marked with dark streaks over a grey-buff background, forming a gorget, with strong distinct cut-off from the white of the abdomen but sometimes with centre of gorget projecting down 1 to 2 mm; front and sides of neck also well streaked. |
In flight
|
Thin pale wing-bar; white sides to dark rump; tail dark. |
Similar to Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. |
Bill
|
Short and almost straight; dark to dull yellowish olive at base. |
Slightly longer; slightly decurved; greenish-yellow to yellowish at base. |
Eye |
Dark brown iris, white orbital ring |
Dark brown iris, white orbital ring |
Legs
|
Grey-green to yellowish. |
Greenish-yellow to yellowish, but generally more yellow than Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. |
Juveniles
|
Upperparts similar to breeding adult; most of underparts white; lightly streaked orange-buff breast. |
Similar to breeding birds, but gorget more lightly marked. |
Call
|
Common call of ‘whit-whit, wit-it-it’; occasionally deep grunting notes. |
‘Trrit’, ‘churk’, either uttered singly or in series; notes harsher and reedier than Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. |
Jizz
|
Portly sandpiper with flat back; pot belly; flat head on short neck. |
Slightly slimmer; longer neck; more rounded crown and lower more sloping forehead; slightly shorter legs; slightly longer and more decurved bill. |
The main diagnostic feature in the field to differentiate between the two species is the dark breast streaking of the Pectoral Sandpiper, with the distinctive clean cut off from the white abdomen. This gorget feature is present in both breeding and non breeding plumage. Although some Sharp-tailed Sandpipers can exhibit a suggestion of a breast gorget, it is never as heavily streaked or as clearly defined as for a Pectoral Sandpiper.
If still in doubt, work through the comparisons above, and if and when the bird calls, the completely different calls should readily confirm the identification.
Prepared by Bill Ramsay based on an article by Fred T H Smith,
published in The Bird Observer, November 1989.
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| Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |
Pectoral Sandpiper |
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| Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |
Pectoral Sandpiper |
Photographs by Bill Ramsay
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