Surface tension prey transport is a feeding mechanism employing the su
rface tension of water surrounding prey to transport prey from bill ti
p to mouth, Previously, it has been demonstrated only in the Red-necke
d Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus. On the basis of a model of the bill mo
rphology necessary for this method of prey transport, I suggest that m
any species of shorebird should be capable of surface tension feeding,
Laboratory investigations of the feeding mechanics of Wilson's Phalar
ope Phalaropus tricolor; Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri and Least Sa
ndpiper Calidris minutilla demonstrated that all three use surface ten
sion transport of prey when feeding in water, I examined interspecific
variation in the performance of this feeding mechanism with a high-sp
eed video system and a customized motion analysis system, Exploratory
analyses indicated significant interspecific variation in distance the
prey is transported per cycle of mandibular spreading, gape increase
per unit transport, speed of transport, total number of cycles necessa
ry to complete transport and total time to complete transport, The cal
idrid sandpipers also occasionally used other feeding mechanisms in co
njunction with surface tension transport of prey, The discovery that t
hese sandpipers, which normally obtain prey by probing, are capable of
surface tension transport of prey implies that the capacity to employ
this feeding mechanism may be widespread in the Scolopacidae and may
have been a significant factor in the evolutionary radiation of phalar
opes into aquatic environments.