White-rumped Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper, breeding adult; Texas, May

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About the map

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Foraging White-rumped Sandpiper, non-breeding adult; September; Long Is., NY

Foraging White-rumped Sandpiper, September; Long Is., NY

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Reproduction
8. Conservation Status
9. Other Names

Unique among the small sandpipers known as "peeps," the White-rumped Sandpiper shows white above the base of the tail. Its striking rump, along with its distinctive call note, make it readily identifiable in the midst of a flock of flying small shorebirds.

Cool Facts

• The White-rumped Sandpiper actually has dark rump feathers. The white feathers at the base of the tail are the upper tail coverts, special feathers that cover the base of the stiff tail feathers.

• The White-rumped Sandpiper has one of the longest migration routes of any American bird, breeding in Arctic Canada and wintering in southern South America. Southbound migrants fly over the Atlantic ocean from northeastern North America to South America, then gradually move southeast along the coast before turning inland go across the Amazon Basin, travel requiring about one month.

Description

• Size: 15-18 cm (6-7 in)
• Wingspan: 40-44 cm (16-17 in)
• Weight: 40-60 g (1.41-2.12 ounces)

Small to medium-sized sandpiper. Short neck. Moderately long straight bill. Moderately long legs. Long wings extend past end of tail on resting bird. Large white patch at base of tail. Underparts white, with find dark streaks on pale gray breast. Black chevron marks on flanks in breeding plumage. Back mostly gray in nonbreeding plumage, mixed gray and warm brown in breeding plumage.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult, but with more scaly pattern on back.

Similar Species

• Baird's Sandpiper very similar in size, shape, and markings, but is usually browner, with more even dark across chest, more scaly back pattern, and lacks white rump.
• Dunlin larger and with a more down-curved bill.

Sound

Call a metallic "tzeep," like the scraping of two pebbles.

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About the map

Summer Range

Breeds across northern Alaska and Canada.

Winter Range

Winters in southern South America.

Habitat

Breeds in mossy or grassy tundra near water. On migration and during winter found in grassy marshes, mudflats, sandy beaches, flooded fields, and shores of ponds and lakes.

Reproduction

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Active and covered with down.

Conservation Status

Relatively common. No information on population trends.

Other Names

Lecasseau de Bonaparte (French)
Correlimos de Bonaparte, Chichicuilote rabadilla blanca (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Parmelee, D. F. 1992. White-rumped Sandpiper. In The Birds of North America, No. 29 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists? Union.