Bartramia longicauda

Abstract: In the southern part of South America, knowledge about bird species distribution is still not used as a tool for land use planning and conservation priority-setting. BirdLife International’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program is an appropriate vehicle for analyzing existing information about birds, and to generate new data where necessary. IBA inventories should provide input to urgent regional conservation issues, such as those relating to temperate and subtropical grasslands. There is a rich avifauna of grassland-specialist species in Argentina, of which approximately 25 are threatened or near-threatened at the global level. The grassland biome also serves as wintering grounds for neartic migrants, such as Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) and Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni). The BirdLife network is represented in the region by the Brazil Program Office, Guyra Paraguay, Aves Uruguay and Aves Argentinas/AOP. These organizations are trying to start an international cooperative project focusing on grassland IBA identification and conservation.

Abstract: . For a single lineage of birds, the diversity of mating systems and parental care among shorebirds (Charadrii) is high, which has made them an important group for investigations of the evolution of social mating systems. From 2003 to 2007, we studied a population of the Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) at Konza Prairie Biological Station in northeastern Kansas. Our objectives were to determine the genetic mating system of this socially monogamous shorebird and to determine whether spatial patterns of philopatry and nest placement might affect opportunities for extra-pair mating. We used six microsatellite markers to estimate rates of extra-pair paternity in 58 family groups (107 parents, 184 offspring). We found that 30% of broods contained extra-pair offspring, representing 15% of chicks, the highest rate of extra-pair paternity ever reported in a socially monogamous shorebird. High rates of extra-pair paternity were not due to the degree of relatedness between partners in mated pairs, an...

Abstract: The general nesting range of the Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), formerly called Upland Plover, extends from northwestern Alaska, northern Yukon, southern Mackenzie, central Manitoba, southern Ontario, and southern Quebec south into the United States as far as Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Colorado then north-northwest to northern Oregon. Elliott Coues (1874:504) stated, "Its breeding habits may be studied with perfect success in Northern Dakota, where it is the most abundant of all the waders." As late as 1914, North Dakota was still one of the principal breeding areas for the Upland Sandpiper in the U.S., and only in southern Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan could breeding pairs of this species be found in greater abundance (Cooke 1914:283). In 1967, Stewart and Kantrud (1972) surveyed the breeding birds of North Dakota and found that the Upland Sandpiper was still a major breeding species there. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of certain aspects of the breeding biology of Upland Sandpipers in North Dakota.

Abstract: . Conversion of natural grassland to cropland has been postulated as a cause for population declines among grassland birds. We evaluated nest-site habitat characteristics and landscape composition for three species of prairie-breeding shorebirds nesting across the agricultural landscape of prairie Canada. Nests of the Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) and Willet (Tringa semipalmata) were found disproportionately in natural grazed (57%) or natural idled (21%) patches, whereas Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) nests were in habitats in proportion to their availability on the landscape. We examined multiple landscape variables (proportions of crop, natural idled, natural grazed, and wetland habitats, edge density, and patch area) across a broad geographic scale, using relatively large samples of nests, and found no strong relationships. Neither nest-site habitat characteristics nor landscape-level effects influenced daily survival rates of Upland Sandpiper or Willet nests. Variation in landscape co...