Purple sandpiper

Purple sandpiper
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Scolopacidae
Genus:	Calidris
Species:	C. maritima
Binomial name
Calidris maritima Brünnich, 1764
File:Calidris maritima map2.png
Range of C. maritima      Breeding range     Year-round range     Wintering range
Synonyms
Erolia maritima Arquatella maritima

The purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) is a small shorebird.

Description

Adults have short yellow legs and a medium thin dark bill with a yellow base. The body is dark on top with a slight purplish gloss and mainly white underneath. The breast is smeared with grey and the rump is black. They measure 20–22 cm (7.9–8.7 in) in length and 42–46 cm (17–18 in) across the wings, and weight is from 50–105 g (1.8–3.7 oz).

Breeding

File:Calidris maritima MWNH 0150.JPG

Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany

Their breeding habitat is the northern tundra on Arctic islands in Canada and coastal areas in Greenland and northwestern Europe. They nest on the ground either elevated on rocks or in lower damp location. The males makes several scrapes; the female chooses one and lays 3 or 4 eggs. The male takes the major responsibility for incubation and tends the chicks. The young feed themselves.

An apparent case of hybridization between this species and the dunlin has been reported from England (Millington, 1994).

Range and migration

In Britain, these birds occur in winter in good numbers principally along the east and south coasts, where they favour rocky shorelines adjacent to the sea. It is much rarer as a breeding bird, found only in a localised area of the Cairngorms National Park, where 1–3 pairs have bred since the 1970s. Records of breeding by this species in the UK are monitored and archived by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel.

They are late migrants and move to rocky ice-free Atlantic coasts in winter. most go no further south than North Carolina and northern Portugal. They are fairly gregarious, forming small flocks, often with ruddy turnstones. This species is tame and approachable.

Feeding

These birds forage on rocky coasts, picking up food by sight. They mainly eat arthropods and mollusks, also some plant material.

Status

The Purple sandpiper is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

References

• Millington, Richard (1994): A mystery Calidris at Cley. Birding World 7(2): 61-63. HTML excerpt

External links

• Purple sandpiper facts on BTO BirdFacts
• Purple sandpiper information at eNature.com
• Purple sandpiper videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
• Purple sandpiper photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)