ODNR Division of Wildlife - A to Z Species Guide - Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Photo by Jim McCormac

This species is only to be expected along the shoreline of Lake Erie; there are only three records away from this region. They are never common, with only a handful of sightings annually. Purple sandpipers occur in the most severe weather conditions of any of our shorebirds, as most pass through in November and early December on their way to the Atlantic Coast.

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Purple Sandpiper

Calidris maritima

At-a-Glance

• Incubation: 21-22 days

• Clutch Size: 4 eggs

• Young Fledge: 21 days after hatching

• Typical Foods: small crustaceans and mollusks

Description
Birds in breeding plumage are streaked with dark gray on the head and the breast is spotted. In the winter, the birds are dark gray without streaks. The bill is orange and has a black tip.

Habitat and Habits
This sandpiper is almost always seen on rocky breakwalls jutting into Lake Erie. They are occasionally on beaches and natural rocky shorelines of the Lake Erie islands. The purple sandpiper is not often heard here, but it gives fairly loud, explosively squeaky kip kip sounds, sometimes accelerated into a series.

Reproduction and Care of the Young
Breeding takes place in arctic Canada. Nests are depressions in the ground lined with grass.

Videos of purple sandpipers
(sound not available)