Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis)

Rock Sandpiper, Southwest Point, St. Paul Island, Alaska
Photograph by Alan And Elaine Wilson. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

ROCK SANDPIPER FACTS

Description
The Rock Sandpiper is a medium sized shorebird with medium bill and fairly short yellow legs. In the breeding season, the back is patterned black and reddish brown. The head is white, with grayish patch around ear, and dark brown crown. There is a black patch on the chest. The bill is black and may have some yellow at base. The legs are dull greenish yellow. The underside is white. In the non-breeding season, they are slate-gray above, and white below with some gray spots down the chest and onto belly. The legs are yellow orange and bill is black with yellow base. Males and females are similar, but females have less prominent breast patch. Immatures have scaly pattern on the back with reddish brown shoulders, white chest with dark streaks.

Size
length 18cm - 24cm. Wingspan 39cm

Environment
grassy tundra, mossy tundra, rocky seacoasts, mudflats.

Food
insects, mollusks, marine worms, plants

Breeding
The nest is a scrape on the ground, or on rocks. Lays four eggs.

Range
The Rock Sandpiper breeds on west coast of Alaska. Winters along southern Alaska down as far as northern California.

Classification

Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Scolopacidae
Genus:	Calidris
Species:	ptilocnemis
Common Name:	Rock Sandpiper

Relatives in same Genus
  Sanderling (C. alba)
  Dunlin (C. alpina)
  Pectoral Sandpiper (C. melanotos)
  Least Sandpiper (C. minutilla)

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