Species fact sheet by Global Register of Migratory Species - www.groms.de

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Migrates over land more than P. fulicaria and spends non-breeding season pelagically. Nearctic populations winters mainly at edges of Humboldt Current off South America; large numbers off Peru in Oct-Mar and few off Chile indicate more N distribution than P. fulicaria; migrates S across N Canada and W USA, where occurs on saline lakes, with 10,000’s on Mono L, Great Salt L and L Albert; thence S over sea. In W Atlantic, birds migrating S possibly include some from Nearctic, Greenland and Iceland, huge numbers, up to 20,000 (Aug 1977) aggregate at Bay of Fundy in May and Aug, but winter quarters of these birds unknown; it seems unlikely that they fly farther S crossing Caribbean and Central America towards Pacific, since rarely observed in these zones, but no wintering sites known in Atlantic Ocean. W Eurasian population winters in Arabian sea; migrates on broad front, but many via Caspian Sea and lakes in Kazakhstan, Aug-Sept and Apr- May, with 600,000 at L Tengiz in May 1959; enter and leave Arabian Sea via Gulf of Oman. Arrive at breeding grounds late May to mid-Jun, 3-4 weeks earlier at temperate latitudes, and females often earlier than males; females depart from end Jun, followed by adult males late Jul and Juveniles in Aug. E Siberian population winters among East Indies, migrating across land and sea. Gregarious in winter and on spring migration.   (del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (eds), 1996)

• digitised by GROMS, after del Hoyo J A Elliott; J Sargatal (eds) (1996) - www.hbw.com,
• Copyright: GROMS/BfN - www.groms.de
  
  (A digitised version of this map is published in GIS shape format on the GROMS CD).