Sanderling (Calidris alba) - BirdLife species factsheet

Sanderling Calidris alba

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	57 g

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	13,600,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	366,000,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	900000-1200000 mature individuals	good	estimated	2023
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2010-2029
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	0-19%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	0-19%	-	-	-
Generation length	6.43 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1-2	-	-	-

Population justification: Population size very large. Bart et al. (in prep.) estimated a total of c.700,000 breeding adults in Arctic Canada, which is thought to comprise the majority of the global population. An additional population of at least 200,000 breeding individuals is suspected by summing populations from elsewhere (based on data collated by Wetlands International [2023]). The global population is therefore suspected to number 900,000-1,200,000 to account for uncertainty over the population size of birds in Siberia. The population size of birds using the East Asian-Australasian Flyway was estimated at 30,000 (Hansen et al. 2022).

Trend justification: Global population trend suspected to be declining from migration/non-breeding count data, but this is being driven almost entirely from declines in the American flyway, with other populations stable or perhaps even increasing.

In the East Atlantic Flyway (including Western Europe), van Roomen et al. (2022) recorded an increase in abundance between 1979 and 2020, while the trend of birds wintering in south-west Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa appears relatively stable (Nagy and Langendoen 2020). The trend from South Asia is poorly known, but declines have been reported in reporting rates of citizen science data in India (SoIB 2023). In the East Asia-Australasia Flyway, the population trend is not well understood but is probably either stable or perhaps now declining slowly (see Lagendoen et al. 2021). Rapid declines have been reported only from non-breeding range in North America: Smith et al. (2023) estimated a population reduction equivalent to 47.8% over three generations, though with wide confidence intervals between a reduction of 68.8% and 10.5%. These data are also used in the Avian Conservation Assessment Database December 2023 update (Partners in Flight 2023). However, also in the Americas Fink et al. (2023) estimated a broadly stable trend (0% median trend, with +10% to -11% as confidence intervals) over three generations, thus rendering the trend in the Americas somewhat uncertain.

Collating all available data, the global population of this species is suspected to have declined by 0-19% over the past three generations. Future rates of decline are considered uncertain.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native				yes
Albania	extant	native			yes	yes
Algeria	extant	native			yes	yes
American Samoa	extant	native			yes	yes
Angola	extant	native			yes	yes
Anguilla (to UK)	extant	native			yes	yes
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native			yes	yes
Argentina	extant	native			yes	yes
Armenia	extant	native				yes
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	native			yes	yes
Australia	extant	native			yes	yes
Austria	extant	native				yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native			yes	yes
Bahamas	extant	native			yes	yes
Bahrain	extant	native			yes	yes
Bangladesh	extant	native				yes
Barbados	extant	native			yes	yes
Belarus	extant	native				yes
Belgium	extant	native			yes	yes
Belize	extant	native			yes	yes
Benin	extant	native			yes	yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native			yes	yes
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (to Netherlands)	extant	native			yes	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native			yes	yes
Botswana	extant	native				yes
Brazil	extant	native			yes	yes
British Indian Ocean Territory	extant	native				yes
Brunei	extant	native			yes	yes
Bulgaria	extant	native			yes	yes
Burundi	extant	native				yes
Cambodia	extant	native			yes	yes
Cameroon	extant	native			yes	yes
Canada	extant	native		yes	yes	yes
Cape Verde	extant	native			yes	yes
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native			yes	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native				yes
Chad	extant	native				yes
Chile	extant	native			yes	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native			yes	yes
Christmas Island (to Australia)	extant	native				yes
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (to Australia)	extant	native				yes
Colombia	extant	native			yes	yes
Comoros	extant	native			yes	yes
Congo	extant	native			yes	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native			yes	yes
Costa Rica	extant	native			yes	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native			yes	yes
Croatia	extant	native			yes	yes
Cuba	extant	native			yes	yes
Curaçao (to Netherlands)	extant	native			yes	yes
Cyprus	extant	native			yes	yes
Czechia	extant	native				yes
Denmark	extant	native			yes	yes
Djibouti	extant	native			yes	yes
Dominica	extant	native			yes	yes
Dominican Republic	extant	native			yes	yes
Ecuador	extant	native			yes	yes
Egypt	extant	native			yes	yes
El Salvador	extant	native			yes	yes
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native			yes	yes
Eritrea	extant	native			yes	yes
Estonia	extant	native				yes
Eswatini	extant	native				yes
Ethiopia	extant	native				yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	native			yes	yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native				yes
Fiji	extant	native			yes	yes
Finland	extant	native				yes
France	extant	native			yes	yes
French Guiana	extant	native			yes	yes
French Polynesia	extant	native				yes
French Southern Territories	extant	vagrant			yes	yes
Gabon	extant	native			yes	yes
Gambia	extant	native			yes	yes
Georgia	extant	native				yes
Germany	extant	native			yes	yes
Ghana	extant	native			yes	yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native			yes	yes
Greece	extant	native			yes	yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes		yes
Grenada	extant	native			yes	yes
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes	yes
Guatemala	extant	native			yes	yes
Guinea	extant	native			yes	yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native			yes	yes
Guyana	extant	native			yes	yes
Haiti	extant	native			yes	yes
Honduras	extant	native			yes	yes
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native			yes	yes
Hungary	extant	native				yes
Iceland	extant	native				yes
India	extant	native			yes	yes
Indonesia	extant	native			yes	yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native			yes	yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes	yes
Ireland	extant	native			yes	yes
Israel	extant	native			yes	yes
Italy	extant	native			yes	yes
Jamaica	extant	native			yes	yes
Japan	extant	native			yes	yes
Jordan	extant	native			yes	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native				yes
Kenya	extant	native			yes	yes
Kiribati	extant	native				yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native				yes
Laos	extant	native				yes
Latvia	extant	native				yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes	yes
Liberia	extant	native			yes	yes
Libya	extant	native			yes	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native				yes
Luxembourg	extant	native				yes
Macao (China)	extant	native			yes	yes
Madagascar	extant	native			yes	yes
Malawi	extant	native				yes
Malaysia	extant	native			yes	yes
Maldives	extant	native				yes
Mali	extant	native				yes
Malta	extant	native			yes	yes
Marshall Islands	extant	native				yes
Martinique (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
Mauritania	extant	native			yes	yes
Mauritius	extant	native
Mayotte (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
Mexico	extant	native			yes	yes
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native			yes	yes
Monaco	extant	native			yes	yes
Mongolia	extant	native				yes
Montenegro	extant	native			yes	yes
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native			yes	yes
Morocco	extant	native			yes	yes
Mozambique	extant	native			yes	yes
Myanmar	extant	native			yes	yes
Namibia	extant	native			yes	yes
Nepal	extant	native				yes
Netherlands	extant	native			yes	yes
New Caledonia (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
New Zealand	extant	native			yes	yes
Nicaragua	extant	native			yes	yes
Niger	extant	native				yes
Nigeria	extant	native			yes	yes
Norfolk Island (to Australia)	extant	native			yes	yes
North Korea	extant	native				yes
North Macedonia	extant	native				yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes	yes
Oman	extant	native			yes	yes
Pakistan	extant	native			yes	yes
Palau	extant	native			yes	yes
Palestine	extant	native			yes	yes
Panama	extant	native			yes	yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	native			yes	yes
Paraguay	extant	native				yes
Peru	extant	native			yes	yes
Philippines	extant	native			yes	yes
Poland	extant	native				yes
Portugal	extant	native			yes	yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native			yes	yes
Qatar	extant	native			yes	yes
Réunion (to France)	extant	native
Romania	extant	native			yes	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes			yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native				yes
Russia (European)	extant	native				yes
Rwanda	extant	native				yes
São Tomé e Príncipe	extant	native			yes	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes	yes
Senegal	extant	native			yes	yes
Serbia	extant	native				yes
Seychelles	extant	native			yes	yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native			yes	yes
Singapore	extant	native			yes	yes
Sint Maarten (to Netherlands)	extant	native			yes	yes
Slovakia	extant	native				yes
Slovenia	extant	native			yes	yes
Solomon Islands	extant	native			yes	yes
Somalia	extant	native			yes	yes
South Africa	extant	native			yes	yes
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native				yes
South Sudan	extant	native				yes
Spain	extant	native			yes	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native			yes	yes
St Barthelemy (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
St Helena (to UK)	extant	native				yes
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native			yes	yes
St Lucia	extant	native			yes	yes
St Martin (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native			yes	yes
Sudan	extant	native			yes	yes
Suriname	extant	native			yes	yes
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	native		yes		yes
Sweden	extant	native				yes
Switzerland	extant	native				yes
Syria	extant	native			yes	yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native			yes	yes
Tajikistan	extant	native				yes
Tanzania	extant	native			yes	yes
Thailand	extant	native			yes	yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native			yes	yes
Togo	extant	native			yes	yes
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native			yes	yes
Tunisia	extant	native			yes	yes
Türkiye	extant	native			yes	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native			yes	yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native			yes	yes
Tuvalu	extant	native				yes
Uganda	extant	native				yes
Ukraine	extant	native			yes	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes	yes
United Kingdom	extant	native			yes	yes
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	native				yes
Uruguay	extant	native			yes	yes
USA	extant	native		yes	yes	yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native				yes
Venezuela	extant	native			yes	yes
Vietnam	extant	native			yes	yes
Virgin Islands (to UK)	extant	native			yes	yes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes	yes
Western Sahara	extant	native			yes	yes
Yemen	extant	native			yes	yes
Zambia	extant	native				yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native				yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Azerbaijan	Gizilagach
Canada	Blaine Lakes
Canada	Chaplin Lake
Canada	Chappice Lake
Canada	Gooseberry Lake
Canada	Manitou Lake Area (includes Reflex, Freshwater, Wells, Colette and Cipher Lakes)
Canada	Miquelon Lake
Canada	Sounding Lake
China (mainland)	Eastern tidal flat of Nanhui
Costa Rica	Cahuita, Gandoca-Manzanillo and Migratory Bird Corridor
Costa Rica	Nicoya Gulf mangroves and coastal areas
Costa Rica	Pacuare, coastal wetlands and Migratory Bird Corridor
Denmark	Fanø
Denmark	Vadehavet (Wadden Sea)
France	Baie de Goulven
France	Estuaires picards : baies de Somme et d'Authie
France	Marais de la Baie d'Audierne
Germany	Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park (includes the Halligs, Kniepsand/Amrum, Lister Koog, Rantumbecken, Rickelsb
Ghana	Amansuri wetland
Greenland (to Denmark)	Hochstetter Forland
Greenland (to Denmark)	South coast of Germania Land, and Slaedelandet
Greenland (to Denmark)	Western part of Germania land
Guinea-Bissau	Arquipélago dos Bijagós
Guinea-Bissau	Cantanhez forests
Iceland	Stafnes-Gardur
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Miankaleh Peninsula and Gorgan Bay
Iran, Islamic Republic of	South Caspian shore, from Astara to Gomishan
Japan	Anogawa and Shitomogawa estuaries
Japan	Banzu and Futtsu tidal flat
Japan	Inner Tokyo bay
Japan	Kahokugata, Takamatsu coast
Japan	Komaiko coast
Japan	Kujukuri coast
Japan	Tonegawa estuary, Hazaki coast
Mauritania	Banc d'Arguin National Park
Morocco	Baie d'Ad Dakhla
Morocco	Dakhla area
Morocco	Lagune de Khnifiss
Morocco	Plage Blanche - Ras Takoumba
Mozambique	Greater Bazaruto
Namibia	Sandwich Harbour
Namibia	Walvis Bay
Netherlands	Wadden Coast
Netherlands	Wadden Sea
Netherlands	Westerschelde & Saeftinghe
Oman	Al Batinah coast
Oman	Barr al Hikman
Oman	Khawr Ghawi
Russia (Asian)	Izvestiy Tsik islands
Russia (Asian)	Lower Nizhnyaya Taymyra river
South Africa	West Coast National Park and Saldanha Bay islands
South Korea	Nakdong-gang estuary
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	Sassen-Bünsow Land
Ukraine	Syvash Bay
United Kingdom	Ribble and Alt Estuaries
United Kingdom	South Westray Coast
United Kingdom	The Wash
Uruguay	Barra del Chuy - La Coronilla
USA	Cape Hatteras National Seashore
USA	Cape Lookout National Seashore

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Tundra	major	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Mud Flats and Salt Flats	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	major	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Tidepools	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Lakes	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Tundra Wetlands (incl. pools and temporary waters from snowmelt)	suitable	breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Biological resource use

Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Unknown

Stresses
Species mortality

Climate change & severe weather

Habitat shifting & alteration

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Future

Whole (>90%)

Unknown

Stresses
Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation

Human intrusions & disturbance

Recreational activities

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Unknown

Stresses
Species disturbance

Pollution

Industrial & military effluents - Oil spills

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Past, Likely to Return

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Past Impact

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality

Residential & commercial development

Housing & urban areas

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Declines

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Residential & commercial development

Tourism & recreation areas

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Species disturbance

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Sanderling Calidris alba. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/sanderling-calidris-alba on 24/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 24/11/2024.