Stilt Sandpiper, Calidris hemantopus


Stilt Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpipers show up every year in small numbers in our area. They often hang
out with dowitchers, and forage with a similar rapid stitching motion. Even without
a good look at the bill (shorter, and slightly decurved) they are distinguishable from
dowitchers by their more sharply uptilted posture while feeding, see below, which
results from the proportionately longer legs that gives them their name. This bird is
in molt, with a mix of juvenal feathers (brown centered, white fringes) to adult non-
breeding type (plain gray).


Stilt Sandpiper