Rock Sandpiper vs Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Rock Sandpiper

Calidris ptilocnemis

Medium81 gGrassland

Adults have short yellow legs and a medium thin dark bill. The body is dark on top with a slight purplish gloss and mainly white underneath. The breast is smeared with grey and the rump is black. The nominate subspecies from the Pribilof Islands shows a bold black belly patch in breeding plumage; the other three subspecies more closely resemble purple sandpiper than they do the nominate subspecies.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Aiva Noringseth · CC BY 4.0

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Calidris pygmaea

Small32 gCoastal

The most distinctive feature of this species is its spatulate bill. The breeding adult bird has a red-brown head, neck and breast with dark brown streaks, blackish upperparts with buff and pale rufous fringing. Non-breeding adults lack the reddish colouration, but have pale brownish-grey upperparts with whitish fringing to the wing-coverts. The underparts are white and the legs are black. It is 14–16 cm (5.5–6.3 in) long. The measurements are; wing 98–106 mm, bill 19–24 mm, bill tip breadth 10–12 mm, tarsus 19–22 mm and tail 37–39 mm.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Валерия Ковалева · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Rock Sandpiper and Spoon-billed Sandpiper.