Abstract
Display Flights (DFs) of the Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) are described. DFs were prolonged flights (averaging 1.2 min in Manitoba and 3.4 min in Nova Scotia), about 10-30 m in altitude, by unmated males over their future nesting areas. Displaying males alternated brief glides and bouts of rapid shallow wingbeats (Flutters) throughout DFs; the two phases averaged 0.84 and 0.72 s, respectively. Flutters averaged 26 (Yukon) to 37 per min (Nova Scotia). DFs ended in several kinds of descents, from slow parachuting to rapid stooping. Three main call types were associated with DFs. The main Display Flight Vocalization (DFV) was simple and stereotyped, and was emitted rhythmically throughout DFs. DFVs of 22 males averaged 390 ms long with intervals between them of 106 ms. DFVs thus occurred at a rate of about two per second, so were not synchronized with Flutters. Some features of DFs, such as their monotonous, repeated calls, are shared with many other open-country species with aerial displays (e.g., plovers, pipits). Nevertheless, DFVs are probably plesiomorphous within the Calidridinae. The adaptive significance and ancestral/derived status of these and other features of DFs are discussed.
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