What is "stilt sandpiper"

Sandpiper \Sand"pi`per\, n.

1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of small limicoline game birds belonging to Tringa, Actodromas, Ereunetes, and various allied genera of the family Tringid[ae].

   Note: The most important North American species are the pectoral sandpiper ( Tringa maculata), called also brownback, grass snipe, and jacksnipe; the red-backed, or black-breasted, sandpiper, or dunlin ( T. alpina); the purple sandpiper ( T. maritima: the red-breasted sandpiper, or knot ( T. canutus); the semipalmated sandpiper ( Ereunetes pusillus); the spotted sandpiper, or teeter-tail ( Actitis macularia); the buff-breasted sandpiper ( Tryngites subruficollis), and the Bartramian sandpiper, or upland plover. See under Upland. Among the European species are the dunlin, the knot, the ruff, the sanderling, and the common sandpiper ( Actitis hypoleucus syn. Tringoides hypoleucus), called also fiddler, peeper, pleeps, weet-weet, and summer snipe. Some of the small plovers and tattlers are also called sandpipers.

2. (Zo["o]l.) A small lamprey eel; the pride.

   Curlew sandpiper. See under Curlew.

   Stilt sandpiper. See under Stilt.

Stilt \Stilt\, n. [OE. stilte; akin to Dan. stylte, Sw. stylta, LG. & D. stelt, OHG. stelza, G. stelze, and perh. to E. stout.]

1. A pole, or piece of wood, constructed with a step or loop to raise the foot above the ground in walking. It is sometimes lashed to the leg, and sometimes prolonged upward so as to be steadied by the hand or arm.

   Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked.
   --Landor.

2. A crutch; also, the handle of a plow. [Prov. Eng.]
   --Halliwell.

3. (Zo["o]l.) Any species of limicoline birds belonging to Himantopus and allied genera, in which the legs are remarkably long and slender. Called also longshanks, stiltbird, stilt plover, and lawyer.

   Note: The American species ( Himantopus Mexicanus) is well known. The European and Asiatic stilt ( H. candidus) is usually white, except the wings and interscapulars, which are greenish black. The white-headed stilt ( H. leucocephalus) and the banded stilt ( Cladorhynchus pectoralis) are found in Australia.

   Stilt plover (Zo["o]l.), the stilt.

   Stilt sandpiper (Zo["o]l.), an American sandpiper ( Micropalama himantopus) having long legs. The bill is somewhat expanded at the tip.

The stilt sandpiper (Calidris himantopus or Micropalama himantopus) is a small shorebird. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name kalidris or skalidris is a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific himantopus means "strap foot" or "thong foot".

This sandpiper bears some resemblance to the smaller calidrid sandpipers or " stints". DNA sequence information is incapable of determining whether it should be placed in Calidris or in the monotypic genus Micropalama. It appears most closely allied with the curlew sandpiper, which is another aberrant species only tentatively placed in Calidris and could conceivably be separated with it in Erolia.

The stilt sandpiper breeds in the open arctic tundra of North America. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering mainly in northern South America. It occurs as a rare vagrant in western Europe, Japan and northern Australia.

This species nests on the ground, laying three or four eggs. The male has a display flight. Outside the breeding season, this bird is normally found on inland waters, rather than open coasts.

This species resembles the curlew sandpiper in its curved bill, long neck, pale supercilium and white rump. It is readily distinguished from that species by its much longer and paler legs, which give rise to its common and scientific names. It also lacks an obvious wing bar in flight.

Breeding adults are distinctive, heavily barred beneath, and with reddish patches above and below the supercilium. The back is brown with darker feather centres. Winter plumage is basically gray above and white below.

Juvenile stilt sandpipers resemble the adults in their strong head pattern and brownish back, but they are not barred below, and show white fringes on the back feathering.

These birds forage on muddy, picking up food by sight, often jabbing like the dowitchers with which they often associate. They mainly eat insects and other invertebrates.