''Calidris'' is a genus of

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds in the family

Scolopacidae Scolopacidae is a large family of shorebirds, or waders, which mainly includes many species known as sandpipers, but also others such as woodcocks, curlews and snipes. Most of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil ...

. 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. 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 Blasius Merrem (4 February 1761 – 23 February 1824) was a German natural history, naturalist, zoologist, Ornithology, ornithologist, mathematician, and Herpetology, herpetologist. In 1804, he became the professor of political economy and botan ...

with the

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the ''Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The genus name is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The genus contain 24 species: * Great knot, ''Calidris tenuirostris'' *

Red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the ''Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

, ''Calidris canutus'' * Surfbird, ''Calidris virgata'' *

Ruff Ruff may refer to: Places *Ruff, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community *Ruff, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community Other uses *Ruff (bird) (''Calidris pugnax'' or ''Philomachus pugnax''), a bird in the wader famil ...

, ''Calidris pugnax'' * Broad-billed sandpiper, ''Calidris falcinellus'' *

Sharp-tailed sandpiper The sharp-tailed sandpiper (''Calidris acuminata'') is a small-medium migratory wader or shorebird, found mostly in Siberia during the summer breeding period (June to August) and Australia for wintering (September to March). Taxonomy The gen ...

, ''Calidris acuminata'' * Stilt sandpiper, ''Calidris himantopus'' * Curlew sandpiper, ''Calidris ferruginea'' *

Temminck's stint Temminck's stint (''Calidris temminckii'') is a small wader. This bird's common name and Latin binomial commemorate the Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by ...

, ''Calidris temminckii'' *

Long-toed stint The long-toed stint (''Calidris subminuta'') is a small wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''subminuta'' is from Latin ''sub'', ...

, ''Calidris subminuta'' * Spoon-billed sandpiper, ''Calidris pygmaea'' *

Red-necked stint The red-necked stint (''Calidris ruficollis'') is a small migratory wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''ruficollis'' is from La ...

, ''Calidris ruficollis'' * Sanderling, ''Calidris alba'' * Dunlin, ''Calidris alpina'' * Rock sandpiper, ''Calidris ptilocnemis'' *

Purple sandpiper The purple sandpiper (''Calidris maritima'') is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America and winters further south on the Atlan ...

, ''Calidris maritima'' *

Baird's sandpiper Baird's sandpiper (''Calidris bairdii'') is a small shorebird. It is among those calidrids which were formerly included in the genus ''Erolia'', which was wiktionary:subsume, subsumed into the genus ''Calidris'' in 1973. The genus name is from An ...

, ''Calidris bairdii'' *

Little stint The little stint (''Calidris minuta'' or ''Erolia minuta'') is a very small wader. It breeds in arctic Europe and Asia, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to Africa and south Asia. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America an ...

, ''Calidris minuta'' * Least sandpiper, ''Calidris minutilla'' * White-rumped sandpiper, ''Calidris fuscicollis'' * Buff-breasted sandpiper, ''Calidris subruficollis'' *

Pectoral sandpiper The pectoral sandpiper (''Calidris melanotos'') (often abbreviated pec) is a small, Bird migration, migratory wader that breeds in North America and Palearctic, Asia, wintering in South America and Oceania. It eats small invertebrates. Its bird ...

, ''Calidris melanotos'' *

Semipalmated sandpiper The semipalmated sandpiper (''Calidris pusilla'') is a very small shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''pusilla'' is Latin f ...

, ''Calidris pusilla'' * Western sandpiper, ''Calidris mauri''

References

{{Authority control Sandpipers Bird genera