Stilt Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpiper, adult, breeding plumage; Churchill, Manitoba; June

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Stilt Sandpiper, juvenile; Jamaica Bay, NY; August

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

In its boldly barred breeding plumage, the Stilt Sandpiper is easily identified. In its gray nonbreeding plumage, it is much less distinctive and appears to be intermediate between a yellowlegs and a dowitcher.

Description

Medium-sized sandpiper. Long, greenish legs. Long neck. Long bill, drooped at the tip. White rump. Gray tail. Wings plain, without white stripe. Breeding plumage heavily barred on the underside, with dark blotches on the back, and chestnut cheek patch. Nonbreeding plumage all gray on back with lighter belly.

• Size: 20-23 cm (8-9 in)
• Weight: 50-70 g (1.77-2.47 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Sound

Call a soft "jeew."

Conservation Status

Numbers may be declining. Degradation of breeding environment may be caused by over population of Snow Geese on the tundra.

Other Names

Becasseau à èchasses (French)
Playero pato largo (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The main southward migration route route of the Stilt Sandpiper passes through the middle of the continent, west of the Mississippi River. From here, in fall the species migrates over water to the Caribbean or northern South America, where many birds interrupt their migration to molt flight feathers before continuing to winter haunts in inland central South America.

Sources used to construct this page:

Klima, J., and J. R. Jehl, Jr. 1998. Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus). In The Birds of North America, No. 341 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.