Medium small. Long, robust, tapering bill, slightly drooped and swollen at tip. Sexes alike.
Adults: Breeding: Upperparts, dark brown, richly patterned with fine, pale feather margins. Crown, chestnut. Face, neck, breast, underparts, undertail, white but heavily barred dark brown. Eyebrow, white and long. Ear-patch, distinct, rusty. Rump, white, barred at the edges. Bill, black. Legs, yellow-green. Non-breeding: Upperparts, deep grey-brown, pattern with fine, pale feather margins. Eyebrow, white, above a slim dark eyeline. Neck, underparts, white with short grey streaks throughout. Underwing, white.
Immatures: Like non-breeding but buffer, with chestnut fringes on scapulars. Underparts, buff-grey to whitish, mottled darker on sides of breast. Legs, grey-yellow. In flight, thin white wing bar, with feet trailing beyond tail. Dark upperparts cleanly cut-off from white rump.
Other Scientific Names
Micropalama himantopus [BirdLife International (2004)]
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Derivation
Micropalama - Gk, micros, small; Gk, palamus, the palm of the hand, referring to the small palm-shaped lobes between the toes: hi-mant'-o-pus - Gk, himantopous, water-bird
Habitat
Shallow waters of estuaries, tidal mudflats, swamp, wetlands, saltfields and sewerage ponds. Usually in the company of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) or Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) or other waders.
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus) [XC203567]
by Andrew Spencer from Dalton Highway, Mile 405 Pipeline Access Road, North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States (call)
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus) [XC76188]
by Daniel Lane from Churchill, MB, Canada (song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds in Arctic.
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Subspecies
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)
Similar size. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Upperparts, lighter grey-brown. Underparts, white with no streaking. Bill, shorter, black, not as robust, but decurved without a swollen tip. Legs, shorter, black.
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
Slightly larger. Bill is shorter and always straight. Has darker underparts and tail is barred near the tip.
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