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.
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.The genus contain 24 species:
- Great knot, Calidris tenuirostris
- Red knot, Calidris canutus
- Sanderling, Calidris alba
- Semipalmated sandpiper, Calidris pusilla
- Western sandpiper, Calidris mauri
- Red-necked stint, Calidris ruficollis
- Little stint, Calidris minuta
- Temminck's stint, Calidris temminckii
- Long-toed stint, Calidris subminuta
- Least sandpiper, Calidris minutilla
- White-rumped sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis
- Baird's sandpiper, Calidris bairdii
- Pectoral sandpiper, Calidris melanotos
- Sharp-tailed sandpiper, Calidris acuminata
- Curlew sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea
- Purple sandpiper, Calidris maritima
- Rock sandpiper, Calidris ptilocnemis
- Dunlin, Calidris alpina
- Stilt sandpiper, Calidris himantopus
- Buff-breasted sandpiper, Calidris subruficollis
- Spoon-billed sandpiper, Calidris pygmaea
- Broad-billed sandpiper, Calidris falcinellus
- Ruff, Calidris pugnax
- Surfbird, Calidris virgata
