Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Table

Buff-breasted Sandpiper – Accepted
1. 14 Sep 1923	HY	Morro Bay SLO	1984-207	10	MVZ 43994
2-3. 10–26 Sep 1964	2 HY	Goleta SBA	1986-111	11
4. 16 Sep 1967	HY	Oceanside SD	1986-117	11
5. 05–17 Sep 1971		Palos Verdes Peninsula LA	1984-057	9
6. 30 Aug 1975		Santa Catalina I. LA	1976-080	3
7-8. 27 Aug–06 Sep 1976	2	Salinas R. mouth MTY	1976-044	3	ph.
9. 05–16 Sep 1977	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1977-086	4	ph., Roberson (1980) with incorrect date
11. 26–28 Aug 1978	HY	Bodega Harbor SON	1978-099	5	ph.
12-21. 26–31 Aug 1978	11 HY	Tomales Pt. MRN	1978-104	5	ph.
22. 27 Aug–01 Sep 1978		Mystic Lake RIV	1980-055	6
23-24. 29 Aug 1978	2	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1984-112	9
25. 01–04 Sep 1978	HY	Año Nuevo State Reserve SM	1986-197	12
26. 02–03 Sep 1978		Manchester State Park MEN	1984-113	9
27-28. 02–03 Sep 1978	2	Lake Hodges SD	1980-147	6
29. 10–18 Sep 1978	HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1980-054	6	Roberson (1980)
30. 25 Aug–03 Sep 1979	HY	Arcata HUM	1986-325	12
31-34. 06 Sep 1979	4	Santa Clara R. mouth VEN	1980-038	6
35. 07–16 Sep 1979	HY	Bodega Bay SON	1979-053	5,10	one of two reported
36. 11–12 Sep 1979	HY	Mad R. mouth HUM	1989-208	14	ph., one of three reported
37. 22–23 Sep 1979	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1979-054	5
38. 09 Oct 1979		Tijuana R. valley SD	1980-161	7
39. 12–22 Oct 1979		Tijuana R. valley SD	1980-160	7
40. 16–22 Oct 1979		Tijuana R. valley SD	1980-160	7
41. 03–04 May 1980		Arcata HUM	1983-095	9
42. 01–03 Sep 1980	HY	Gualala R. mouth SON	1986-425	14	ph.
43. 19–25 Sep 1980	HY	Oxnard VEN	1987-334	14
44. 25 Sep 1981		Lake Talawa DN	1981-050	7
45. 27–28 Sep 1981	HY	Lake Shastina SIS	1990-125	14	ph.
46. 02–08 Sep 1982	HY	vic. Petaluma SON	1982-077	8	ph.
47. 10–15 Sep 1982	HY	Oxnard VEN	1982-100/1983-014	8
48-52. 15–25 Sep 1982	5 HY	Arcata bottoms HUM	1986-165	12
53. 03–09 Sep 1983		Lancaster LA	1983-067	9	ph.
54. 25 Aug 1984		Petaluma SON	1984-184	10
55-57. 15–25 Sep 1984	3 HY	Salinas MTY	1984-225	10	ph.
58. 23–28 Aug 1985	HY	Salinas MTY	1986-183	11
59. 24 Aug 1985	HY	Smith R. mouth DN	1985-195	11	sketch in Bevier (1990)
60-64. 24 Aug–13 Sep 1985	HY	Abbotts Lagoon MRN	1985-102	10	ph., cover WB 18(2) with incorrect date
and 14–29 Sep 1985	≤ 5	Pt. Reyes MRN	1985-131/1985-166	10	ph.
65. 27 Aug 1985		Santa Barbara I. SBA	2005-046	30
66. 27–31 Aug 1985	HY	Carmel R. mouth MTY	1985-129	10	ph.
67. 30 Aug–04 Sep 1985	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1985-177	11	ph.
68. 06 Sep 1985	HY	Crescent City DN	1985-162	11
69. 06 Sep 1985	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1985-178	11
70. 07–11 Sep 1985	HY	Lancaster LA	1985-148	11	ph., AB 40:159
71-72. 11 Sep 1985	2 HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1986-064	11	ph.
73. 21–26 Sep 1985	HY	Arcata HUM	1986-184	14
74-75. 28 Aug–02 Sep 1986	2 HY	Salinas MTY	1986-362	12	ph.
76. 06–08 Sep 1986	HY	Asilomar State Beach MTY	1986-364	12	ph.
77. 11 Oct 1986	HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1986-466	12
78-79. 27–31 Aug 1987	2 HY	Año Nuevo State Reserve SM	1987-244	13
80. 06 Sep 1987	HY	Guadalupe SBA	1987-374	13
81. 06–07 Sep 1987	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1987-241	13
82. 08–14 Sep 1987	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1988-005	13	ph.
83. 11–24 Sep 1987	HY	Abbotts Lagoon MRN	1987-370	13	ph.
84 15–17 Oct 1987	HY	Smith R. bottoms DN	1988-287	13
85. 05 Sep 1988	HY	Edwards Air Force Base KER	1988-164	13	ph.
86. 05–11 Sep 1988	HY	San Nicolas I. VEN	1989-002	13
87-88. 07 Sep 1988	2 HY	Lake Talawa DN	1989-063	13	ph., two of three reported
89-97. 09–18 Sep 1988	9 HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1988-165	13
98. 10 Sep 1988	HY	Morro Bay SLO	2004-007	29	ph.
99. 16–17 Sep 1988	HY	Lake Shastina SIS	1989-061	13	ph.
100. 18–19 Sep 1988	HY	Hayward Regional Shoreline ALA	1988-219	13
101. 30 Sep 1988	HY	Hollister SBT	1989-062	13
102. 28–30 Aug 1989	HY	Natural Bridges State Beach SCZ	1989-138	15
103. 16 Sep 1989	HY	Edwards Air Force Base KER	1989-188	15	ph.
104. 03–09 Jun 1990		Edwards Air Force Base KER	1990-098	15	ph., AB 44:380
105. 15–18 Aug 1990	HY	Bolinas MRN	1990-115	15
106. 15–18 Aug 1990	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1990-144	16	ph.
107. 19 Aug 1990	HY	Abbotts Lagoon MRN	1990-113	15
108. 23 Aug 1990	HY	Zmudowski State Beach MTY	1990-172	15
109. 24 Aug–03 Sep 1990	HY	Moss Landing MTY	1990-117	15	ph.
110-112. 25 Aug 1990	3 HY	Hayward Regional Shoreline ALA	1990-114	15
113. 31 Aug 1990	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1990-145	16	ph.
114. 01 Sep 1990	HY	Morro Bay SLO	1990-127	15	ph., AB 45:151
115. 01 Sep 1990	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1990-212	15
116. 05–15 Sep 1990	HY	Salinas R. mouth MTY	1990-119	15	ph.
117. 16 Sep 1990	HY	Edwards Air Force Base KER	1990-201	16	ph.
118. 21–25 Oct 1990	HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1990-161	16
119. 17–23 Nov 1990	HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1991-001	16
120-122. 25 Aug–14 Sep 1991	≤ 3	San Jose SCL	1992-036	17
123. 26 Aug–07 Sep 1991	AHY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1991-122	17
124-125. 26 Aug–12 Sep 1991	≤ 2 HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1991-147	17
126-127. 02–03 Sep 1991	2 HY	Tijauna R. valley SD	1991-123	17
128. 08 Sep 1991	HY	Batiquitos Lagoon SD	1991-124	17
Buff-breasted Sandpiper – Not accepted, identification not established
25 Aug 1970		Arcata HUM	1986-243	14
09 Dec 1990		Santa Clara R. mouth VEN	1991-051	16
Buff-breasted Sandpiper – Not submitted
01–05 Jul 1935		Furnace Creek Ranch INY		14	Gilman (1936), Grinnell & Miller (1944)
26 Aug 1978		Arcata HUM		14	AB 33:210
03 Sep 1978		Salinas R. mouth MTY		14	Roberson (2002)
03 Sep 1978	2	Pt. Mugu VEN			Webster et al. (1980)
07–16 Sep 1979		Bodega Bay SON			Parmeter (2000), see table entry 35
11–12 Sep 1979	2	Arcata bottoms HUM		14	AB 34:196, see table entry 36
16–18 Sep 1979	7+	Oxnard VEN		14	AB 34:201
23 Sep–06 Oct 1979		Oxnard VEN		14	AB 34:201
13–25 Sep 1980	≤ 3	Pt. Mugu VEN		14	AB 35:226
22–28 Aug 1983		Petaluma SON			Parmeter (2000)
09 Sep 1985		Arcata bottoms HUM			AB 40:330
17 Aug 1986		Lake Talawa DN		14	Harris (2006)
29 Aug–12 Sep 1988		Lake Talawa DN			AB 43:163, see table entries 87-88
15 Aug–15 Sep 1990	8	coastal northern California			AB 45:147
fall 1991	5-6	northern California			AB 46:144

Figures

Figure 138. After a string of exceptional years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Committee decided to cease reviewing records of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Small numbers continue to be found in the state, primarily along the coast in fall. On 1 September 2001, Ray Ekstrom sketched this first-fall individual far from the coast, at Unit 3 of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in Siskiyou County (Ray Ekstrom).

Figure 139. Distribution of 128 Buff-breasted Sandpipers recorded from 1970 to 1991, revealing a pattern of occurrence skewed decidedly toward the coast.

Figure 140. California records of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper from 1970 to 1991. A group of 11 present from 26 to 31 August 1978 at Tomales Pt., Marin County, made up about half of the record total of 20 detected that fall. From 1985 to 1991, records averaged ten per year, precipitating cessation of CBRC review.

Figure 141. This first-fall Buff-breasted Sandpiper was photographed on San Clemente Island, Los Angeles County, on 18 September 2002—many years after the CBRC stopped reviewing records of this species (Brian L. Sullivan).

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER Tryngites subruficollis (Vieillot, 1819)

Accepted: 128 (98%)	Treated in Appendix H: no
Not accepted: 2	CBRC review: records through 1991
Not submitted/reviewed: 36+	Color image: none

This sandpiper breeds from northern Alaska through the Canadian arctic. The breeding range largely overlaps that of the White-rumped Sandpiper, and both species winter in southern South America. Buff-breasteds, however, leave the breeding grounds much earlier. Both spring and fall migrations are mainly through the Great Plains, although some southbound birds—juveniles, primarily—take an Atlantic coast route. The species occurs very rarely to casually across North America outside of its major central and minor eastern migration pathways, and has strayed to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia (Higgins and Davies 1996). It is accidental in southern Africa.

California’s first Buff-breasted Sandpiper was a first-fall bird collected on 14 September 1923 on the beach near Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County (Brooks 1924). The accepted records are tightly grouped in late August and mid September, with only a few in late September. October records are exceptional, and most come from the Tijuana River valley in San Diego County, where a first-year bird present from 4 to 7 December 1993 (FN 48:248) furnished the latest fall record for the United States until 15 December 2002, when one was found in Louisiana (NAB 57:214). The lone fall record of an adult also comes from the Tijuana River valley: 26 August–7 September 1991. Spring migrants have been recorded only twice: 3–4 May 1980 in Arcata, Humboldt County, and 3–9 June 1990 in eastern Kern County. A striking 95% of the accepted records come from the coastal plain (Figure 139).

The Buff-breasted Sandpiper may once have numbered in the millions, but like a number of other shorebird species it suffered heavy losses attributed to market hunting around the turn of the twentieth century (van Gils and Wiersma 1996). Degradation of staging and wintering areas was implicated in later declines detected at a site in Texas during the 1980s, but results of more recent surveys in Argentina suggest that numbers subsequently stabilized (van Gils and Wiersma 1996). California records averaged ten per year between 1985 and 1991 (Figure 140), resulting in cessation of Committee review. The frequency of occurrence has since dropped off somewhat but remains above the CBRC’s review-list threshold of four occurrences per year, averaged over ten years.