Erolia acuminata (Horsfield)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Totanus acuminatus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13, pt. 1, 1821, p. 192. (Type locality, Java.)
Tringa acuminata Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, pp. 8, 118 (Pelew); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 106 (Pelew); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 5, 35 (Palau); Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 314 (Pelew); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 64 (Pelew); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 65 (Marianne); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 33 (Guam); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 70 (Marianas); idem, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 268 (Guam).
Heteropygia acuminata Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 24, 1896, p. 566 (Pelew); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 8 (Ruk); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 62 (Marianas, Ruk, Pelew); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 48 (Pagan, Pelew, Ruk).
Tringa maculata var. acuminata Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3) 8, 1896, p. 44 (Pagan, Palaos).
Pisobia acuminata Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 50, pt. 8, 1919, p. 276 (Caroline Islands).
Erolia acuminata Hartert, Vögel pal. Fauna, 11-12, 1920, p. 1586 (Palau, Karolinen); Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 24 (Guam).
Pisobia acuminatus Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 192 (Ponapé, Truk, Pagan, Jaluit, Koror).
Calidris acuminata Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 215 (Pagan, Jaluit, Koror, Truk, Ponapé); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 45 (Micronesia); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 54 (Guam, Angaur).
Geographic range.—Breeds in northeastern Siberia. Winters from the Malay Archipelago and Australia to the Southwest Pacific. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Guam, Pagan; Palau Islands—Angaur; Caroline Islands—Truk, Ponapé; Marshall Islands—Jaluit.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 4 (2 males, 2 females), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Guam, 1 (Sept. 17); Palau Islands, USNM—Angaur, 3 (Sept. 21).
Remarks.—The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is a regular visitor to western Micronesia and an uncommon visitor to eastern Micronesia. It was first recorded from the Palau Islands in 1868, where the bird was taken by Tetens, Heinsohn, and Kubary. In 1896 and 1898, records of this bird in the Mariana and Caroline islands were published by Oustalet and Hartert.
The NAMRU2 party obtained one specimen at Guam on September 17 and three at Angaur on September 21. At Angaur several birds of this species were seen at fresh water ponds in company with Erolia minuta ruficollis, Limicola falcinellus sibirica, Tringa glareola, and other shore birds.