Medium small. Bill, fine and slightly decurved. Sexes alike.
Adults: Breeding: Crown, ear coverts, bright rufous wash. Scapulars, brown with rufous base. Eyebrow, white. Eye, dark brown. Lores, black. Underparts, white with streaks and arrow-shaped spots across the breast and along the sides and flanks. Tail, black with outer tail feather grey-brown. Rump, white. Bill, black, with yellow-brown base. Legs, short, black. Non-breeding: Upperparts, crown, uniform darkish-grey-brown. Eyebrow, white and short. Underparts, chin, white with a zone of dark streaks across chest. When standing wingtips extend beyond the tail tip.
Immatures: Brighter. Eyebrow, white, contrasts with chestnut wash on crown, ear coverts and back. White lines edge mantle feathers and scapulars.
Other Scientific Names
Calidris fusicollis [Turbott (1990)], Erolia fuscicollis
Other Names (World)
White-rumped Sandpiper, Bonaparte's Sandpiper
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada (B) (P), Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay (NB), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (NB).
Vagrant to Antarctica, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece (P), Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia (European), Spain, St Helena, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.
North-eastern Alaska and northern Canada east to southern Baffin I. Winters in south-eastern South America, from central-eastern Brazil to Tierra del Fuego.
White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis) [XC316119]
by Hal Mitchell from Belzoni, Humphreys County, Mississippi, United States (call)
White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis) [XC471301]
by Stanislas Wroza from Parque Nacional da Lagoa do Peixe, Tavares, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (alarm call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds in Arctic.
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Subspecies
Formerly placed in genus Erolia.
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)
Slightly larger. Non-breeding wth non-breeding. Wing bar is bolder white. Rump, white and proceeds higher up back. Bill, longer, finer at the tip. Breast, paler and more finely streaked. Legs, longer.
Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)
Smaller. Non-breeding wth non-breeding. More buffish and mottled. Lacks a white rump. Bill, finer, shorter.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet