Upland Sandpiper - Bartramia longicauda

During our 6 day visit to Texas in April we concentrated on sites known for birding diversity and good viewing. For us that meant Bolivar Flats and the Houston Audubon Society's preserves at High Island. On the morning of April 8th we decided to explore the local backroads in search of the Upland Sandpiper, a species we have never seen. Our search grid included the area south of I-10, west of route 124, and north of White's Ranch Road (rte 1985). Tired without success to find some flooded fields for shorebirds, but mostly looked for grassland habitats preferred by the Upland SP.

Driving slowly on Fairview Road we spotted a few medium sized shorebirds foraging in the grass near the roadside, and watched them as they flew into a nearby field. There we followed a loose flock of 10+ Uplands as they searched for invertebrates. Often we saw only their heads, but occasionally a few provided a decent view, although at some distance.

Their big eyes contributed to the choice of their old name, the Upland Plover, although it was recognized that they belonged in the sandpiper family rather than with the plovers (see below for taxonomy). Their small rounded heads have been described as "pigeon-like".

Their long necks are like those of larger sandpipers, but since they don't forage on mudflats they don't need long bills like their curlew cousins.

Taxonomy, from Birds of North America Online,  #580, C. Houston and D. Bowen:

Related Species

Although it is placed in a monotypic genus, Bartramia longicauda could be considered a small curlew (Numenius spp.) with a short, straight bill; the two genera are sisters (see Sibley and Monroe 1990, Thomas et al. 2004, Baker et al. 2007). The curlew radiation lies squarely within the family Scolopacidae, the shorebirds, where it appears to be basal to a radiation that includes many of the familiar genera in the family (Baker et al. 2007), such as Limosa (the godwits), Gallinago (the snipes), Calidris (the “peeps” and stints), and Tringa(the shanks).

The Upland Sandpipers spend 8 months of the year "wintering" in grassy fields of South America, where of course it is "summer" down there. They migrate north through the central and eastern US. Populations have declined in the past because of hunting (said to be very tasty) and habitat loss.