Buff-breasted Sandpiper Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small, delicately built shorebird with a fairly long neck, rounded head, and large eye. The bill is slender and short for a sandpiper bill (about the length of the head). At rest, the wingtips are about the length of the tail. Legs are fairly long.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Semipalmated Sandpiper, smaller than a Red Knot; similar in size to a Pectoral Sandpiper.

  robin-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
• Color Pattern

  All plumages are bright buff overall, with fine black streaks on the crown and dark centers to the back and upperwing feathers, giving a neat, scaly appearance. The underwing flashes white in flight and in display, with a dark comma at the wrist (carpal joint). The bill is dark and the legs yellow.

• Behavior

  Walks briskly through short grassy habitats, stopping frequently (like a plover), and picking insects from the ground or vegetation. Males during spring migration sometimes perform displays, opening the wings, fluffing up the plumage, raising the head, and walking around with exaggerated movements on tiptoes.

• Habitat

  Nests on dry tundra of High Arctic. Typically seen in dry, grassy habitats such as prairies, farm fields, and sod farms during migration. Winters in grazed pastureland and pampas of southeastern South America.