The Coast Salish, Red Earth Cree and James Bay Cree were known to eat sandpipers [1-3], likely to have included species such as the Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, and Spotted Sandpiper. The Hare (Sahtu) are reported to have hunted the Buff-breasted Sandpipe, which they boiled, roasted or fried [4]. Sometimes children would snare sandpipers to keep themselves busy while their parents were hunting [5]. Sandpipers were usually roasted or boiled by the Coast Salish [2]. Among the Kutchin (Gwich’in) of the Yukon Flats, sandpipers were given to children for eating, while adults ate larger birds [6].
References
1. Elberg N, Hyman J, Hyman K, Salisbury RF: Not By Bread Alone: The Use of Subsistence Resources among James Bay Cree. In.; 1975.
2. Ashwell R: Food, Fishing & Hunting; Cooking Methods. In: Coast Salish: Their Art, Culture and Legends. Volume 1st edition, edn. British Columbia: Hancock House Publishers Inc.; 1978: 28-55.
3. Meyer D: Appendix I: Plants, Animals and Climate; Appendix IV: Subsistence-Settlement Patterns. In: The Red Earth Crees, 1860-1960. Volume 1st edition, edn.: National Musem of Man Mercury Series; 1985: 175-185-200-223.
4. Hara HS: The Hare Indians and Their World. In. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada; 1980: 95-147.
5. Jenness D: Bread from the Waters. In: The People of the Twilight. edn. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press; 1959.
6. Osgood C: Material Culture: Food. In: Contributions to the Ethnography of the Kutchin. edn. New Haven: Yale University Press; 1936: 23-39.
Sandpipers belong to a large family of wading and probing shorebirds that includes species referred to as snipe, phalarope, whimbrel, yellowleg, woodcock, godwit, and dowitcher. Sandpipers, which include some of the smallest shorebirds, are fairly compact birds with moderately long bill and legs. Their feet have a hind toe and limited webbing. Like many other shorebirds, they have mottled brown or gray upperparts and whitish underparts. They are all migratory, breeding in the northern portion of their range and traveling south to spend the winter [1]. North American sandpipers include the Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) [2], the Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) [3], the Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) [4], and the Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis) [5].
References
1. Richards AJ: Seabirds of the Northern Hemisphere. Limpsfield: Dragon's World; 1990.
2. Hicklin P, Gratto-Trevor CL: Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla). In: The Birds of North America Online. Edited by Poole A. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 2010.
3. Nebel S, Cooper JM: Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla). In: The Birds of North America Online. Edited by Poole A. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 2008.
4. Oring LW, Gray EM, Reed JM: Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius). In: The Birds of North America Online. Edited by Poole A. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 1997.
5. Lanctot RB, Laredo CD: Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tringites subruficollis). In: The Birds of North America Online. Edited by Poole A. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 1994.