Calidris

Calidris
Semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
Merrem, 1804
Type species
Tringa calidris = Tringa canutus
Gmelin, 1789

Calidris is a genus of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds in the family Scolopacidae. These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. Migratory shorebirds are shown to have decline in reproductive traits because of temporal changes of their breeding seasons(Weiser et al., 2018). They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged and relatively short-billed.

Their bills have sensitive tips which contain numerous corpuscles of Herbst. This enables the birds to locate buried prey items, which they typically seek with restless running and probing.

Taxonomy

The genus Calidris was introduced in 1804 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem with the red knot as the type species. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds.

The genus contain 24 species: