| Remarks |
Interacts with marine environment on estuarine mudflats where there is an abundance of soft sediment invertebrate prey found by probing in the mud. At San Francisco Bay, feed on mudflats on low tides and move to seasonal wetlands and salt ponds on high tides as water levels cover their feeding habitat affecting prey availability. Impressive flight speed recorded at over 70 kph of a radio-tagged Western Sandpiper that flew 3000 km from San Francisco, California to the Copper River Delta, Alaska within 42 h; typically, such straight flights are not common for this species. Three to four million may aggregate in spring at the Copper River Delta, Alaska within a 4-week period, on their way to their tundra nesting grounds together with millions of other shorebirds stopping at the delta. Preyed upon by the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) on estuaries worldwide; form tight groups of wheeling flocks as an evasive tactic against the hunting Peregrine Falcon (Ref. 87784). |