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  Profile

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  In flight

Cranes & Waders

Purple Sandpiper

Calidris maritima

• uncommon
• 40 km/h
• Least Concern

Winters on storm-battered Atlantic rocks where no other shorebird dares. Delivers in the spray.

Population

~204,000–287,000 individuals globally (136,000–191,000 mature individuals), decreasing

Habitat

Breeds on wet moss or barren rocky Arctic tundra with lichen patches; winters on wave-battered rocky coastlines, jetties, and breakwaters, foraging most actively at falling tide

Fun fact

The Purple Sandpiper winters farther north than any other shorebird species, hardy enough to spend the cold months on ice-fringed, wave-battered rocky Atlantic coastlines.

Range

Breeds across the Arctic from northern Canada, Greenland, and Iceland through northern UK, Scandinavia, and northwest/central Siberia; winters on North Atlantic rocky coasts from Atlantic Canada/New England south to South Carolina, and from Iceland/UK to northern Portugal/Iberia in Europe — farther north in winter than any other shorebird

Diet

Aquatic invertebrates including mussels and other molluscs, crustaceans, and arthropods (notably seaweed flies of the genus Coelopa) picked from seaweed-covered rocks

Size

0.21 m

Wingspan

0.44 m

Lifespan

20 years