BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER IN LOS CANCHALES

On 25 September 2012 a juv Buff-Breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis) was spotted at Los Canchales reservoir (Badajoz) by Jesús Solana, Antonio Núñez Ossorio and Joaquín Vázquez. This is the fourth Extremadura record and the first in the province of Badajoz.

As for the other Buff-Breasted Sandpiper found at Portaje reservoir (Cáceres) on 13 September [link], the bird was seen again on 20 and 22 but then wasn't found on a visit on 25 September. On the 22nd it was seen and photographed by Antonio and Julio Ceballos (bottom photo). As it happens, curiously enough, the Buff-Breasted Sandpiper's generic name has just been changed in the British List drawn up by BOURC. Its new name is Calidris subruficollis, so it is now included in the same genus as the Ruff (Calidris pugnax). More grist to the mill of nomenclature controversies...

Other posts on Buff-Breasted Sandpiper in Extremadura.

Buff-Breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis). Portaje Reservoir, Cáceres. 22.09.2012. By Antonio Ceballos

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER: THREE AND COUNTING

 A juvenile Buff-Breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis) was spotted on the morning of 13 September 2012 by Sergio Mayordomo at Portaje Reservoir in Cáceres (top photo). It was feeding on one of the reservoir banks on newly sprouted grass in the company of migrant Yellow Wagtails. At midday it was seen again by Eva Palacios and Miguel Ángel Muñoz (bottom photo).

This is the third record for the species in Extremadura, all made successively in the last three years (Valdecañas, October 2010; Galisteo, October 2011; and Portaje, September 2012). All were juveniles seen in the province of Cáceres. The sightings are too new to have been officially accepted by the rarities committee as yet, but in all three cases there are photographs that prove the identification beyond a shadow of a doubt.

This vagrant American wader is now turning up more regularly in Spain with 45 accepted records involving 49 birds up to 2009. This figures will no doubt rise in future reports because there were considerable influxes of this species in both 2010 and 2011, with 25-35 birds recorded each year. In 2012, so far, there have been at least two sightings in August and another on the same day of 13 September in Vilafáfila (Zamora). Paradoxically, this increase of records in Spain does not at all tally with the specie's trend as a whole, since its status has now been downgraded by the IUCN to "Near Threatened" (NT).

Other post on Buff-Breasted Sandpiper in Extremadura.

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER IN GALISTEO, CÁCERES

Buff-Breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis), juvenile. Galisteo Lake, Cáceres, 05.10.2011 (Javier Prieta).

After a September with no news of vagrant waders in Extremadura, October kicked off with the interesting sighting of a Buff-Breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis) at Galisteo (Cáceres) on 05.10.11. The lucky observer this time was the person writing this blog post (by name of Javier Prieta). This is the second ever record for the region after the first one in 2010, also in October, at Valdecañas on 15.10.10 (click here for more info). Both birds were juveniles, like most Spanish records. As on the previous occasion this Buff Breasted didn't stick around; birders who went there to see it that same afternoon lucked out.

As in 2010 this sighting coincides with a big influx of Buff Breasted Sandpipers in Spain. According to Rare Birds in Spain at least 30 different birds were seen in September and another 4 in the first days of October. All these sightings were in coastal provinces (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Catalunya, above all, Valencia, Cádiz, Canarias...), except for this Extremadura bird. The 2010 irruption was put down to successive Atlantic storms but there weren't any in 2011 so another explanation will have to be "invented". To find out more about this delicate American wader, see the 2010 post (click here).

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER: NEW SPECIES FOR EXTREMADURA

Buff-Breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis). The even spangling of scaly fringes on the back tells us it's a juvenile. Valdecañas Reservoir, Cáceres. 15.10.10 (Ángel Sánchez).

On 15 October 2010 a juvenile Buff-Breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis) was spotted at Valdecañas reservoir near El Gordo in the province of Cáceres. This is a first for Extremadura. The only observer was Ángel Sánchez, the bird proving impossible to find again in subsequent days.

The Buff-Breasted Sandpiper is classed as a rare vagrant in Spain. It is the third most frequent American vagrant wader after the Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) and the Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes). Up to 2007 a total of 42 sightings had been accepted, involving 46 different birds (Díes at al. 2009). Figures have not yet published for 2008 and 2009 but the autumn passage of 2010 is turning out to be extraordinary, with no fewer than 30 different birds recorded on September and October (Gutiérrez, 2010) . One possible cause might be the series of Atlantic storms in this period. Another notable feature of this year's records is that the birds have turned up in inland areas and even steppic habitat, whereas all pre-2003 records had been coastal (de Juana, 2006).

The Buff-Breasted Sandpiper is currently considered to be the only member of the Tryngites genus, although recent studies suggest that it might be very closely related to the small waders of the Calidris genus, and even includable therein (Thomas et al. 2004). It breeds on the arctic tundra of North America and northeast Siberia, wintering on the pampas of South America after migrating inland down the American continent (see map). The regular passage through western Europe suggest there might be a minority migration route in the east Atlantic, used more in autumn than in spring, although it is not known whether these birds winter in Africa or South America. Unlike other sandpipers it prefers humid inland pastureland as its stopover and wintering sites. The estimated Buff-Breasted Sandpiper population is 16,000-84,000 birds, based on migration counts, although it was much commoner in the past (hundreds of thousands). Its conservation state is precarious and it is listed as Near Threatened (NT) on a global level due to its declining trend (BirdLife, 2010).

- De Juana, E. (2006). Las aves raras de España. Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
- Dies, J. E. et al (2009). Observaciones de aves raras en España, 2007. Ardeola 56:309-344.
- Gutiérrez, R. (2010). Buff-breasted sandpiper in Spain, autumn 2010. Rare Bird in Spain Blog. 19-10-2010.