Purple Sandpiper

Calidris maritima ORDER: CHARADRIIFORMES FAMILY: SCOLOPACIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

A stout shorebird, the Purple Sandpiper breeds in the tundra and winters along rocky shores of the Atlantic Coast. Despite its name, it appears mostly slate-gray in winter, with only a faint purplish gloss, and shows no purple at all in breeding plumage.

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Appearance

Shorebirds

Typical Voice

Adult Description

Plump, medium-sized shorebird.
Mostly dark.
Medium-length bill, with slight droop at end.
Short, yellow legs.

Immature Description

Juvenile resembles breeding adult, but with white-edged feathers on the upperparts.

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Similar Species

Winter Dunlin lighter brownish gray, with longer, more slender bill, and dark legs.
Rock Sandpiper very similar, but the ranges of the two species do not normally overlap. Breeding Rock Sandpiper has dark patch on belly; Purple Sandpiper's belly is white. Nonbreeding Purple Sandpiper is darker than Rock Sandpiper, with brighter bill base and legs.

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