Purple sandpiper
Calidris maritima
Identification Tips:
- Small shorebird
- Medium-sized, thin, dark bill with yellow base
- Yellow legs
- Black patch on rump extending onto tail
- Thin, white wing stripe
- Sexes similar
Adult alternate:
- Dark gray streaked head
- Pale indistinct supercilium with dark cheeks and crown
- Black back feathers and wing coverts with thin white edges
- Dark gray breast with dark streaks and spots extending onto white
underparts
Adult basic:
- Dark gray head without darker streaks
- Dark gray breast with streaks extending onto flanks
- Very dark back with thin gray edges
Juvenile:
- Similar to adult alternate
- Black back feathers and wing coverts with neat white edges
- Dark streaking on breast
Similar species:
This sandpiper is most likely to be found on rocks in coastal areas. Other
small shorebirds are paler and lack the yellow legs and yellow-based bill.
In flight, turnstones and sanderlings have more white in the wings.