Tuamotu Sandpiper "Titi" Chevalier des Tuamotu

Biology and Conservation Biology

The Tuamotu Sandpiper ("Titi", Chevalier des Tuamotu, Prosobonia cancellata ) is the sole surviving species of 6 related Calidrid sandpipers which evolved as resident species on South Pacific islands. Due primarily to the introduction of mammalian nest predators – rats and cats – the once widespread “Titi”, as it is called locally, is now restricted to 4-6 atolls in French Polynesia.

All other sandpipers are highly migratory. This year-round resident of South Pacific atolls has a suite of adaptations, including short bills and legs, rounded wings, and extensive use of trees, making the Tuamotu Sandpiper a most unusual shorebird species.

Marie-Hélene Burle has begun the first intensive field study of this species on the tiny motu (island) of Tiromi, and other small islands, which are part of the uninhabited atoll of Tahanea, in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia.

Our research is being pursued in cooperation with the Society of Polynesian Ornithologists- MANU, the French Direction de l'Environnement (DIREN), the government of Anaa, and the landowners of Tiromi.