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Flora and Fauna - The Diademed Sandpiper Plover:
a tiny wader at 4800 meter above sea-level

The Diademed Sandpiper Plover - Photo by Gunnar Engblom

“What brings a 'shorebird' so far away from the sea?” you may ask. “Is it a plover or is it a sandpiper?” the birders wonder. There is no doubt that the Diademed Sandpiper Plover (DSP) - phegornis michellii - is magic. I have mentioned where it can be seen to visiting birders, and they have decided to cut a day in their program and instead steer the vehicle to the site of the DSP above Lima. It is true! One of the most wanted birds by birders visiting Peru is not unique to Peru. It also occurs in Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. Nevertheless, when you ask the birders, who have seen it and 500+ birds on their birdwatching holiday in Peru, which - in their opinion - was the best bird of the trip, a large proportion of these birders, maybe even the majority, hold out the Diademed Sandpiper-Plover as number one.

It is not large and there are certainly more colorful birds, but still the quest for the DSP is something else. Maybe it is because even the top notch birders struggle with waders. Waders in North America and Europe are difficult to identify. It is the A-levels of birding. In the mid 80's the birders bought the classic bird book “Shorebirds” - one of the earliest complete works covering a bird-family which set model for forthcoming family guides in the Croom/Helm and Pica Press series - to be able to sort out those dull colored winter plumage waders - and there they could see it! A wader that was not dull. A wader that was not a Tringa, it was not a Calidris and not even a Charadrius or Vanellus Plover. It was a mixture and it was pretty with its yellow legs, rufous hind-neck, black face, white diadem and finely black banded breast and it lived in a very remote area at very high altitude. “Shorebirds” must have been one of the first sources for birders in the northern hemisphere to see a picture of this enigmatic species.

Taxonomically, it has been difficult to place because it is plover-like in posture, but has a sandpiper like bill. It is the only member of its genus.

In the department of Lima the Diademed Sandpiper Plover can easily be seen at the Ticlio Bog near the famous highest rail-road pass in the world at 4818m and just next to the Central Highway to Huanuco and Huancayo. Saddening and a potential threat is the un-authorized peat harvesting for mushroom cultivation and gardening in Lima city. Hopefully, more visitors looking for DSP can put this to halt. -- Gunnar Engblom, Kolibri Expeditions

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