Calidris melanotos
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The pectoral sandpiper (Calidris melanotos), often abbreviated pec, is a small, migratory wader that breeds in arctic regions of North America and Asia, wintering in South America and Oceania. It eats small invertebrates. Its nest, a hole scraped in the ground and with a thick lining, is deep enough to protect its four eggs from the cool breezes of its breeding grounds. The pectoral sandpiper is 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) long, with a wingspan of 38–46 cm (15–18 in).
In the past widely seen as most closely related to sharp-tailed sandpiper, more recent genetic evidence has shown more complex relationships between the species of Calidris, with its closest genetic relatives probably the semipalmated sandpiper and western sandpiper species pair.
Cox's sandpiper, originally described as a new species Calidris paramelanotos, has proven to be a stereotyped hybrid between this species and the curlew sandpiper. This does not prove a particularly close relationship between these two species, as far more distantly related waders have produced hybrids.
The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name kalidris or skalidris, is a term used by Aristotle for some... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 2 | Cochabamba | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 3 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 4 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 5 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 6 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 9 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 10 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pectoral Sandpiper sighting in El Impenetrable National Park on a given day, based on 20 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 170th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Pectoral Sandpiper in El Impenetrable National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to September, the lowest months. December has too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pectoral Sandpiper sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 31
Of the 31 parks where we can rate Pectoral Sandpiper sightings, El Impenetrable National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Isla del Coco National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%), Caroni Swamp (Trinidad and Tobago, about 10%) and Kluane National Park (Canada, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pectoral Sandpiper is recorded against all the birds logged in El Impenetrable National Park (20 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
