Curlew sandpiper Calidris ferruginea

Identification Tips:

• Length: 7 inches
• Medium-sized shorebird
• Decurved bill
• Black legs
• White rump
• White wing stripe
• Sexes similar
• Rare in United States

Adult alternate:

• Reddish-brown head, mantle, breast, and belly
• Black bases to back feathers
• White undertail coverts with dark spots

Adult basic:

• Gray head with white supercilium
• Gray breast with indistinct streaking
• Gray upperparts
• White belly and undertail coverts

Juvenile:

• Similar to adult basic
• Mantle black with thin pale white edging
• Head and breast with brownish wash

Similar species:

In alternate plumage, the reddish-brown plumage is diagnostic. The Dunlin also has a decurved bill but lacks a white rump. Stilt Sandpiper has greenish legs and a thicker bill. Other similar-sized shorebirds lack the decurved bill.

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