White-rumped Sandpiper

Overview

White-rumped Sandpiper: Small sandpiper, brown and black scaled upperparts, distinct white rump. Neck and upper breast are white with brown streaks. Streaked head has white eyebrows. Thin white stripes on dark wings visible in flight. Tail is rounded and black. Dark legs and feet.

Range and Habitat

White-rumped Sandpiper: Breeds in northern Alaska and Canadian Arctic. Long-distance migrant, wintering as far south as the outer islands of Antarctica. During migration, found in mudflats, flooded fields, shallow marshes, beaches, and sandbars.

INTERESTING FACTS

The White-rumped Sandpiper was first described in 1819 by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, a French ornithologist.
Hybrids between this species and the Dunlin are occasionally found in northeastern North America, it is also suspected to hybridize with the Buff-breasted Sandpiper.
It 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.
A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.

The White-rumped Sandpiper is a small shorebird known collectively as “peeps” or “stints”. Their preferred breeding habitat is the northern tundra of the Arctic islands in Canada and Alaska of the United States. Nests are built on the ground, and are camouflaged by surrounding low vegetation. This species migrates long distances in the winter months to northern South America. They are rarely found in western Europe and Australia as well. The White-rumped Sandpiper forages in mud, shallow water or tundra for food. Typical diets consist of insects, mollusks, aquatic invertebrates and some plants. The conservation rating for this species is Least Concern.