Upland sandpiper Bartramia longicauda

Identification Tips:

• Length: 10 inches
• Long-legged, small-headed, long-necked shorebird of grasslands
• Legs yellow
• Thin, short bill
• Very large dark eye stands out against pale face
• Black rump and long tail, with dark bars
• Dark outer wing contrasts with brownish inner wing in flight
• Often perches on fence posts or stumps
• Sexes similar

Adult:

• Dark cap
• Pale head and neck streaked with brown
• Whitish eyering and throat, pale lores
• Brown back and wing coverts with pale edges and black bars
• Buff neck and breast and white belly with dark chevrons on neck, breast and flanks

Juvenile:

• Very pale head without the contrast between the cap and face of the adult

Similar species:

Buff-breasted Sandpiper has a similar shape, but is much smaller and has a plain buff face and underparts, with spots rather than chevrons on sides of neck and breast, a shorter tail, and bright silvery wing linings.

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