Animalia Life

Prosobonia cancellata
SUBFAMILY
Tringinae
TAXONOMY
Tringa cancellata Gmelin, 1789, Kiritimati, Christmas Island. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Chevalier des touamotou; German: Sьdseelдufer; Spanish: Andarrнos de Tuamotu.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
5.9–6.7 in (15–17 cm); 0.07–0.1 lb (32–44 g). Small, brown sandpiper with a very short, thin bill. Extensive buff spots and feather edges on upperparts; underparts lighter with brown spots and bars on breast, flanks, and undertail.
DISTRIBUTION
Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia).
HABITAT
Beaches, shores, and scrub on tiny atolls, preferring open areas along shorelines.
BEHAVIOR
Sedentary, but may visit islands where it does not nest.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Eats mainly insects; also plant material. Forages among coral rubble and leaf-litter.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeding known in May and August. Nest of fragments of shell, coral and plants, placed on pebbly shoreline. One nest had two eggs.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Endangered because of its small range and population (in 2000 estimated at 250–999 birds on up to 14 islands). It is declining through disturbance, habitat loss, and the introduction of predators to its islands. Former range spanned 2,300 mi (3,700 km) of the central Pacific.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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