General Description: Pectoral Sandpipers (Calidris melanotos) are medium-sized, chunky shorebirds with a mottled brown back, white belly, and streaked front. The streaks end in a fairly distinct line across the chest. The legs are yellow-green. The bill is medium-length and droops slightly towards the tip.

Taxonomy: Charadriiformes, Scolopacidae, Scolopacinae.

Favored Habitat: Wet places such as meadows, mudflats, flooded fields, and pond edges in the high arctic during summer and South America during winter.

Where to Find: Don't look for Pectoral Sandpipers around Las Vegas. They mostly migrate through the central and eastern U.S., but occasionally they show up around Las Vegas during migration, so keep an eye out at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, in the Pahranagat Valley, and at the Overton Wildlife Management Area.

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