Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper, adult, nonbreeding plumage

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Purple Sandpiper, breeding plumage, New Jersey, 11 May.

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A stout shorebird, the Purple Sandpiper breeds in the tundra and winters along rocky shores of the Atlantic Coast. Despite its name, it appears mostly slate-gray in winter, with only a faint purplish gloss, and shows no purple at all in breeding plumage.

Description

• Plump, medium-sized shorebird.
• Mostly dark.
• Medium-length bill, with slight droop at end.
• Short, yellow legs.

• Size: 20-22 cm (8-9 in)
• Wingspan: 42-46 cm (17-18 in)
• Weight: 50-105 g (1.77-3.71 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, female slightly larger and with longer bill.

Sound

Song, usually issued in display flights, is a rolling, repeated, throaty series of varied elements. Also makes trills and chattering calls.

Conservation Status

Recent analysis of count data in Canada show a statistically significant decline in numbers. In the United States, identifying and protecting winter habitat is a management priority.

Other Names

Becasseau violet (French)
Carellimos oscuro (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Purple Sandpiper has the northernmost winter range of any shorebird.

• At Svalbard, an archipelago north of Scandinavia, the male Purple Sandpiper was found to be primarily responsible for parental care of hatchlings. In other shorebird species, parental care mostly by males is often associated with polyandry (one female with several mates), but the Purple Sandpiper is evidently monogamous (one mate only), with a long-term pair bond.

• Purple Sandpipers breeding in high-arctic Canada may migrate through Greenland and Iceland and winter in Europe.

Sources used to construct this page:

Payne, L. X., and E. P. Pierce. 2002. Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima). In The Birds of North America, No. 706 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.