Harlequin Duck and Purple Sandpiper Survey Data Collection

The Eastern Population of the Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus), breeds inland on rivers from northern New Brunswick to Nunavut, and winters in coastal areas from Newfoundland and Labrador to Maryland. In 2001, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) downlisted the Harlequin Duck from “Endangered” to “Special Concern,” and in 2013 the species was re-assessed by COSEWIC and its status remained “Special Concern” (COSEWIC 2013). Harlequin Ducks tend to congregate in large groups in marine areas when moulting and wintering, making them susceptible to catastrophic events such as oil spills. These sea ducks are long-lived species with delayed breeding, which makes their populations slow to recover. The Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) is an arctic-breeding shorebird that winters in Atlantic Canada. While never assessed by COSEWIC, it has been upgraded from a low to high priority species in the Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plan (Hope et al. 2019). The reliability on trends for this species is low due to limited monitoring data, which highlights the need for increased monitoring. Purple Sandpipers and Harlequin Ducks occupy similar marine…

Publisher

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Resources

2

Catalogue metadata updated

2025-04-15