Curlew Sandpiper Identification

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Curlew Sandpiper Photos and Videos

Breeding adult

A medium-sized shorebird with a long, downcurved bill and long, black legs. Breeding adult ranges from brick-red to chestnut on the face, neck, breast, and belly, with a white vent and undertail coverts, and spangled rufous, black, and white upperparts. In fresh breeding plumage, underparts can have a scalloped look due to fresh white feather tips.

Nonbreeding adult

Nonbreeding adult has gray upperparts, white underparts with some gray streaking across the breast, and a prominent white eyeline bordered by a gray cap.

Juvenile

A medium-sized shorebird with a long, downcurved bill and long wings that give an overall “stretched out” look. Juvenile has scaly brown upperparts, a prominent white line above the eye, and mostly white underparts with limited streaking on the breast.

Juvenile

Juvenile has scaly upperparts (due to white edges on dark feathers), a buffy wash and fine streaking on the side of the breast, a dark line running from the base of the bill to the eye, a white line above the eye, and a dark cap.

Nonbreeding adult

In flight in all plumages, note the white rump, gray tail, and white wing stripe.

Breeding adult

Nests on arctic tundra, where the female typically incubates four eggs in a shallow depression on dry ground.

Molting adult

Molting birds in late summer are a patchwork of breeding and nonbreeding plumages.

Habitat

Frequently occurs on tidal mudflats during migration and the nonbreeding season.

Nonbreeding/immature

Often occurs in large flocks during migration and on nonbreeding grounds. Uses its long bill to probe for prey on tidal mudflats, salt pans, sandy beaches, rice fields, lake edges, and sewage lagoons.

See more images of this species in Macaulay Library

Compare with Similar Species

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Red KnotBreeding adult

DunlinNonbreeding adult

DunlinJuvenile

DunlinNonbreeding adult

Stilt SandpiperNonbreeding/immature

Stilt SandpiperJuvenile

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Identification

Medium-sized wader with a long, slightly downcurved bill. Slightly larger than Dunlin, with longer and finer bill, longer legs. In flight note large white rump patch. Breeding plumage deep rusty on head and body (like Red Knot). Non-breeding birds are grayish-brown above with white eyebrows and belly. Juvenile is grayish above with neat scaly feather edgings, whitish below with variable buffy wash on breast. Breeds in Russian tundra and winters in Africa, Australia, and South and Southeast Asia. Mainly in coastal wetland habitats, often with flocks of Dunlin.