ABA Code-3 juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (Calidris acuminata) were reported from Boundary Bay, British Colombia, on 4 October by Mike Tabak and in California in the Bay area one was at Shollenberger Park in southeastern Petaluma on the same date, continuing to 5 October as reported by Gene Hunn.
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper males are 25-30 percent larger than females which have a noticeably shorter wing. In fall along the Pacific Coast the species is rare but elsewhere, including inland, it is casual. In winter the majority are found in Australia, especially at Coorong, Port Hedland Saltworks, Eighty Mile Beach, and Anna Plains wetlands. They arrive at these locations via Transbaikalia, a route east of Lake Baikal while others follow a broad front from eastern Kazakhstan to the Sea of Okhotsk. One flock arrived in Australia with 25,000 birds recorded. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers breed in Asia where the total population estimate is 166,000 birds (Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 1).
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