Surfbird

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Surfbird

The Surfbird is a small stocky wader

Wader

Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
in the family Scolopacidae. It is usually classified in a genus of its own, as Aphriza virgata, but more recent data suggests it is very close genetically to the Red

Red Knot

The Red Knot, Calidris canutus , is a medium sized wader which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia....
and Great Knot

Great Knot

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Encyclopedia

The Surfbird is a small stocky wader

Wader

Red Knot

The Red Knot, Calidris canutus , is a medium sized wader which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia....
and Great Knot

Great Knot

The Great Knot, Calidris tenuirostris, is a small wader. It is the largest of the calidrid species.Their breeding habitat is tundra in northeast Siberia....
s and should be included in Calidris (Thomas et al., 2004). Indeed, the Great Knot looks very much like a larger, more long-billed, and somewhat darker surfbird.

This bird has a short dark bill, yellow legs and a black band at the end of the white rump. In breeding plumage, it has dark streaks on the brownish head and breast with dark spots on its white underparts; the upperparts are dark with rust colouring on the wings. Birds in winter plumage and immature birds are mainly grey on the upperparts and breast and white on the underparts with streaking. Their breeding habitat is rocky tundra

Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is an biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tund?r, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra....
areas in Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
and the Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada three Territories of Canada. It was named after the Yukon River, Yukon meaning "Great River" in Gwich?in language....
. The female lays 4 eggs in a depression on the ground lined with vegetation. Both parents look after the young birds, who feed themselves.

These birds migrate

Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
to the Pacific coasts of North

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
and South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago separated from the southernmost tip of the South American mainland by the Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms Cape Horn....
.

On the nesting grounds, these birds mainly eat insects and some seeds. At other times of year, they eat mollusks and crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....
s found along the surf line on rocky coasts and are usually found in small flocks, often with turnstone

Turnstone

Turnstones are the bird species in the genus Arenaria in the family Scolopacidae. They are closely related to calidrid sandpipers and might be considered members of the tribe Calidriini....
s.

The song is a whistled tee tee tee.

Surfbird

See also