Species
Purple sandpiper
Calidris maritima
A dark, stocky sandpiper of rock jetties, one of the few shorebirds that seeks out cold, wave-splashed rocks.
Photo Gordon Leggett (opens in a new tab) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
At a glance
- Size
- About 20 to 22 cm long
- Weight
- About 60 to 90 g
- Habitat
- Rock jetties and breakwaters
- Diet
- Snails, mussels, barnacles and small crustaceans
- In Georgia
- An uncommon winter visitor on jetties
- Voice
- A low "twit"
- Rabies vector
- No
Identification
- Key marks
- Dark slate-grey; orange-yellow legs and bill base; slightly drooping bill
- Told apart from
- Ruddy turnstone, which has bold black-and-white markings
- Told apart from
- Dunlin, which lives on mudflats and has black legs
- Where to look
- Wave-washed rocks on jetties, November to April
Behaviour
Purple sandpipers feed on rocks splashed by waves, picking snails and mussels from crevices. They are often tame and let people approach closely.
Why they matter
This is the most northerly wintering shorebird on the Atlantic coast; Georgia is at the southern end of its range. Its dependence on rocky shores makes the few jetties along the Georgia coast its only home here.
Reproduction and lifecycle
Nest — A scrape on Arctic tundra
Eggs — Usually four
Incubation — About 21 to 22 days
Chicks — Leave the nest within a day
Flight — At about three to four weeks
Lifespan — Several years
Living around people
- Anglers on jetties share rocks with purple sandpipers; discarded line and hooks are the main hazard.
Misconceptions
- Purple sandpipers are purple. They have only a faint purplish gloss in good light.
Related species
Seasonal activity
When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Active nests | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Notes | Wintering on jetties | Wintering | Wintering | Leaving | Nesting in the Arctic | Nesting | Chicks | Moulting | Moving south | Moving south | Arriving | Wintering |
Where it lives
Recorded in 25 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.
United States
Canada
Mexico
If you found one
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