Similar Species
Rock Sandpiper
Breeding
Rock Sandpipers are most similar to Purple Sandpipers, but their ranges do not overlap.
© Brian Sullivan | Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, April 20, 2008Similar Species
Rock Sandpiper
Nonbreeding
Rock Sandpipers are most similar to Purple Sandpipers, but their ranges do not overlap.
© Caroline Lambert | Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, January 16, 2015Similar Species
Red Knot
Breeding adult
Red Knots are larger than Purple Sandpiper with longer legs. Breeding Red Knots have a red breast while Purple Sandpipers have a spotted black breast.
© Ian Davies | Macaulay LibraryAlaska, May 25, 2013Similar Species
Red Knot
Nonbreeding
Red Knots are larger than Purple Sandpiper with longer legs. Nonbreeding Red Knots have a paler chest and face than the dark gray head and chest of Purple Sandpipers.
© David Clark | Macaulay LibraryVirginia, October 26, 2008Similar Species
Wandering Tattler
Nonbreeding
Wandering Tattlers are larger than Purple Sandpipers with longer, brighter yellow legs.
© Brian Sullivan | Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, September 26, 2014Similar Species
Surfbird
Nonbreeding adult
Surfbirds have a shorter and stouter bill than Purple Sandpipers.
© Matt Brady | Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, January 09, 2011Main Species
Purple Sandpiper
Nonbreeding adult
Stocky, short-legged sandpiper with a dropping bill that is yellow at the base. Slate gray above with grayish spotting on the breast.
© Evan Lipton | Macaulay LibraryRhode Island, February 14, 2017Nonbreeding adult
Its short legs and round belly often make it look like it's squatting. Purplish sheen only visible at close range.
© Christoph Moning | Macaulay LibraryFinnmark, April 05, 2011Nonbreeding adult
Forages in the rocky intertidal zone, quickly picking up aquatic invertebrates at low tides before the rocks get covered as the tide comes back in.
© Tom Johnson | Macaulay LibraryNew JerseyAdult
Often flies short distances low over the water in tight groups.
© Brian Sullivan | Macaulay LibraryNew Jersey, December 19, 2003Nonbreeding adult
Plump shorebird with short, yellow legs found foraging along rocky shorelines.
© Evan Lipton | Macaulay LibraryRhode Island, December 30, 2016Breeding
Breeding birds are heavily spotted below with whitish edging on the wings. The bill is yellowish at the base and slightly curved.
© Ryan Terrill | Macaulay LibraryFlorida, April 12, 2012