Buff-breasted sandpiper Tryngites subruficollis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 6.5 inches
• Medium-sized shorebird
• Short, straight dark bill
• Yellow legs
• Buff plumage
• Mantle has black-centered feathers
• Small black spots on side of breast
• White underwings
• Sexes similar
• Juvenile similar to adult but back feathers edged in white

Similar species:

The unmarked buff underparts of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper separate it from other brown shorebirds with streaked or spotted underparts: Baird's Sandpiper, juvenile Ruff, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Upland Sandpiper. In flight, the white wing linings are diagnostic.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.