Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Calidris maritima Sendlingur

The first Purple Sandpiper record within the survey area was on 20th March (114 birds had been recorded in Hvalfjordur (20 km to the south) on 4th March) (N. Tierney, unpublished dataset), and greater than 100 birds were recorded during all low tide surveys from then until the end of April. By 3rd May, numbers had reduced to 30 birds, and there were fewer than 15 birds recorded per survey until the first week of June. Small numbers of purple Sandpipers were recorded in late June, July and September, with the peak count in this period being 28 birds. Purple Sandpipers were recorded in the southern three subsites only: Flæðhöfðasker (Est 6), Grjóteyrarklakkur (Est 1) and Kistufjörđur (Est 2).

Number of individuals 500 400 300 200 100 0 Low-tide Rising-tide

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Week number and month

Figure 3-95. Number of Calidris maritima recorded during weekly low tide and rising tide estuarine surveys in the Andakíll Ramsar site between 12th March and 25th October 2017.

Figure 3-96. Relative abundance of Calidris maritima during weekly (a) low tide and (b) rising tide estuarine surveys in the Andakíll Ramsar site between 12th March and 25th October 2017. Dots are randomly positioned within each subsite. While each dot refers to a single bird, it refers to the bird’s presence in that subsite only, and not the bird’s actual location.

(a) Low tide (b) Rising tide

(a) Spring (b) Autumn

Figure 3-97. Relative abundance during (a) spring and (b) autumn of Calidris maritima counted on twiceweekly estuarine surveys in the Andakíll Ramsar site in 2017. Spring = 12th March - 7th June; Autumn = 12

th June - 25th

October. The number of dots in each subsite refers to the total number of bird-records (from weekly low tide and rising tide surveys) in spring and autumn, adjusted for the length of the season, and reflects the species’ abundance in that season, not the specific location of birds.

Figure 3-98. Proportion of foraging and roosting Calidris maritima during weekly (a) low tide and (b) rising tide estuarine surveys in six subsites in the Andakíll Ramsar site between 12th March and 25th October 2017.

(a) Low tide (b) Rising tide