occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (200,000 to >2,500,000 square km (about 80,000 to >1,000,000 square miles)) BREEDS: northeastern Siberia, northwestern and northern Alaska, northern Yukon, and northwestern Mackenzie, east to Franklin Bay, Northwest Territories. WINTERS: from central California, southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, central Texas, Gulf Coast, and southern Florida south to Guatemala, rarely to Costa Rica, casually to Panama; occasionally in Hawaii.

Length: 29 cm

Weight: 109 grams

• Terrestrial
• Freshwater
• Marine

Comments: Nonbreeding: marshes, shores of ponds and lakes, mudflats and flooded fields, primarily in freshwater situations (AOU 1983). Nests on the ground in tundra and wet meadows, usually in marshes or grassy areas with scattered shrubs and trees near open fresh water.

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Migrates primarily through western North America west of Rockies, less frequently (primarily in fall) east of Rockies (AOU 1983). Migrates northward to breeding areas, arriving late May-early June in northern Alaska. Southward migration usually begins in late July or early August, greatest numbers in August-September; juveniles begin migration after mid-August, rare before mid-September (Hayman et al. 1986). Rare but regular migrant in Hawaii.

Comments: Forages shallow fresh water and mud bars, probing into mud with bill. Feeds on insects and their larvae, mollusks, crustaceans, marine worms, spiders, and seeds of aquatic plants (bulrushes, pondweeds, sedges, etc.).

100,000 - 1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Morrison et al. (2001) estimated the total population to be roughly 500,000 with about 200,000 spring migrants moving through western North America, 290,800 moving through central and Interior Flyway sites, and 3100 through the eastern U.S.

Little information on home range; in Siberia, nesting pairs remained in an area about 100-300 meters in diameter (Johnsgard 1981).

Breeding begins in late May or early June (Harrison 1978); early nestings in northern Alaska in the first half of June. Clutch size is 4. At first both sexes take turns incubating the eggs; later only the male is involved. Incubation appears to last for 20 days. Precocial young are tended by male.

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N4B - Apparently Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5B,N5N : N5B: Secure - Breeding, N5N: Secure - Nonbreeding

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Comments: See Avise and Zink (1988) for information on genetic divergence between L. SCOLOPACEUS and L. GRISEUS.