Stilt sandpiper
Calidris himantipus
Identification Tips:
- Length: 7.25 inches
- Medium-sized shorebird
- Long bill decurved at tip
- Greenish legs
- White rump
- Sexes similar
Adult alternate:
- Reddish-brown crown and cheeks
- White supercilium
- Black bases to back feathers with thin pale edges
- Neck and breast heavily spotted with black
- Underparts heavily barred with black
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 feathers with black bases and contrasting buff and rust edges
- Head and breast with brownish wash
Similar species:
In alternate plumage, the heavy barring on the underparts is diagnostic.
Juvenile and basic plumages are similar to other species. Dowitchers have
longer, straighter bills while yellowlegs have brighter, yellow legs and
straight bills. Dunlins and Curlew Sandipipers also have decurved bills but
have dark legs and thinner bills. Dunlin has a dark rump.
Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.