Purple Sandpiper

Calidris maritima (Brünnich, 1764)

Purple Sandpiper, Calidris maritima, is a sandpiper of the Arctic and North Atlantic coasts in North America and the Palearctic. It breeds across Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, northern Scandinavia, far north-west Russia and Arctic Canada, and it spends the non-breeding season on rocky shores around the North Atlantic, including Britain and Ireland. Adults have short yellow legs and a dark bill with a yellow base. The upper body is dark with a slight purple sheen, the underparts are mostly white, the breast is greyish, and the rump is black. It was described by Brünnich in 1764.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes

Breeding range

North America, Palearctic: high to low montane Arctic of North Atlantic and Arctic oceans: Greenland (except n, ne), Iceland, Jan Mayen (ne of Iceland), Bear I. and Svalbard (n of Norway), Scandinavia to far nw Russia, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya (n of nw Siberia) and Severnaya Zemlya and Taymyr Pen. (nc Siberia); Banks to s Ellesmere and Baffin is. (nc Canada)

Nonbreeding range

e NA, w Europe : rocky North Atlantic coasts: Iceland, Faroe Is., British Isles, Scandinavia and w Europe (e North Atlantic); Labrador and Gulf of St. Lawrence (se Canada) to North Carolina (w North Atlantic)