By Monica Iglecia (Manomet) and Robert Penner (The Nature Conservancy)
Scanning the prairies of Kansas and Oklahoma around the first half of May, a ground-level glint in the distance may catch your eye. Like a feathered beacon, Buff-breasted Sandpipers are practicing their courtship displays as they prepare for their arrival on the breeding grounds. Waving one wing in the air yields a tiny white flash of the underwing. If you are lucky, you may see two wings pointed to the sky attached to a tiny cinnamon-colored sandpiper, a miniature wings-up celebration of spring.
During spring and fall each year, the Flint Hills of Kansas are visited by this rare shorebird species. Stopping to feed and rest, usually in large pastures that were burned just weeks earlier, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis), relies on the short grass habitat interspersed within the last remnant of North America’s tallgrass prairie. This once vast prairie ecosystem extended from Canada to Texas. Today, less than 4% remains, making it one of the most altered ecosystems in North America. The majority of what is left of the tallgrass prairie is in the Flint Hills region of eastern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. Habitat management in the Flint Hills represents a unique opportunity to preserve the continent’s last ecologically intact and functioning tallgrass prairie and is vital to the survival of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper.
Usually found in small flocks of a few dozen, on rare occasions they might be found in flocks of hundreds. However, given the small global population and long-term population decline of this species, observations in the Flint Hills and elsewhere are becoming less common.
Left: Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Photo: Brad Winn. Right: A two-winged display of a male Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the Arctic. Photo: Shiloh Schulte.
Shorebird surveys conducted by The Nature Conservancy and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and observations of regional birders and biologists, have shown that migratory shorebirds, associated with grasslands, use the Flint Hills of Kansas and Oklahoma extensively. These data suggest that more than half of the global population of Buff-breasted Sandpiper use this four-million- acre tallgrass habitat during spring and fall. Besides this species, observations of American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica), Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), and Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) are possible. Indeed, each year for a few weeks or months, depending on the species, tens of thousands of shorebirds call the Flint Hills home. Because of the clear importance of the Flint Hills to shorebirds, the region was designated a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Landscape of Hemispheric Importance in 2016.
The Flint Hills has remained a viable shorebird staging area because the region was not widely developed or cultivated. A shallow blanket of soil covers ancient sedimentary deposits of chert, a type of rock also known as flint, which lies just below the surface and make this region challenging for agricultural development. Instead, the Flint Hills have become prime grazing land where ranching is a critical piece of the local economy. By working with private ranchlands, these large tracts of grasslands continue to support both cattle grazing and the migration of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper.
From Kansas, Buff-breasted Sandpipers continue their northward migration to nesting grounds in the high arctic tundra. Upon arrival, males will gather in elevated, snow-free areas to display their practiced one- and two- wing courtship displays combined with fluttering jumps into the air in an elaborate effort to attract a mate. Males may travel around the Arctic to display at multiple sites and eventually head back south. The females will settle in to incubate four eggs nestled into a shallow scrape on the ground lined with curated lichens, leaves, and moss. In about three weeks, the eggs will hatch and fluffy chicks will be walking and feeding themselves within twelve hours. Once the young are independent, adult females will begin their southbound migration.
By the time winter has reached the Northern hemisphere, Buff-breasted Sandpipers as well as American Golden-Plovers will have made their way to the Southern hemisphere and joined forces with South American shorebird species like Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis). On the wintering grounds, Manomet has been working with partners to restore habitat in Asunción Bay, Paraguay, and help manage habitat in Lagoa do Peixe, Brazil and Bahía Samborombón, Argentina. While in South America, these grassland shorebirds will forage in the Pampas until the north beckons them once again.
Northbound (A) and southbound (B) migration data from Buff-breasted Sandpipers outfitted with geolocators by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Manomet, and biologists from Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. The track lines show the long distances this species migrates between breeding areas in the Arctic and wintering areas in the southern cone of South America. Buff-breasted Sandpipers use Midcontinental habitats in the United States like the Flint Hills during both migrations. Figure from Lanctot et al. 2016. Light-level geolocation reveals migration patterns of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Wader Study 123(1): 29-43
The collaborative work being conducted in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and the ranching community in the Flint Hills represents one of Manomet’s priority sites in the Shorebird Recovery Program’s Coalitions Project. Other priority sites that directly benefit Buff-breasted Sandpipers include Laguna de Rocha, Uruguay and Lagoa do Peixe, Brazil. Through this focused effort at multiple sites, Manomet is working with local partners to increase shorebird conservation efforts in ways that contribute to hemisphere-scale impacts. Support for this work is made possible by the BAND Foundation and the Bobolink Foundation.
As you can see, the conservation of long distance migrating species takes coordination and collaboration across an enormous geography – from the Arctic to the Flint Hills to the Pampas. Each site has an important role to play in keeping those tiny two wings pointing towards the sky.
Buff-breasted Sandpipers, American Golden-Plovers, and a Southern Lapwing use a grazed pasture in coastal Brazil. Photo: Monica Iglecia
Cover Photo Flint Hills. Photo: Judd Patterson
