If you want to see a semipalmated sandpiper in summer, be prepared to go north. Way north. As in the Arctic Circle north.

The semipalmated sandpiper, Calidris pusillais, is a small shorebird that makes a huge commute. Not only does it spend its summers in the far northern fringe of the continent, it travels as far south as the coastlines of South America to spend its winters. Some so far south that they cross the equator. Now, that's some serious traveling.

Along the way, it passes through Florida as it does most of the eastern and central United States and Canada. Some studies have shown semipalmated sandpipers trekking between 2,000 and 3,000 miles nonstop between southern Canada and New England and the South American coast. Their secret? Fat reserves. They spend summer eating in preparation for the trip.

Some semipalmated sandpipers spend their winters not far from our shores, however, in the Bahamas, Cuba and other parts of the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, the semipalmated sandpiper's long-distance commute probably has caused it to end up on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List. The list contains 233 birds that are threatened with extinction, and while it doesn't specify reasons for each bird, it does say generally that the sandpipers and similar shorebirds with small global populations tend to concentrate in threatened habitats during their migration. That leaves them potentially vulnerable as their haunts disappear. The International Union for Conservation of Nature rates the semipalmated sandpiper "near threatened."