Western
Sandpiper, Calidris
mauri
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![]() Western Sandpipers have black legs, a relatively long, pointed, and slightly drooping bill, and in breeding plumage (above and the next three down) a spotted breast often with distinctive chevrons, and rufous in the crown, auriculars (cheek patch), scapulars (shoulder feathers), and tertials (longer feathers toward the tail). |
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![]() Above, a Western Sandpiper on its breeding ground in Nome, Alaska, showing the longish drooping bill and black legs, and all the features of the breeding plumage: distinct chevrons on the breast, and rufous in the head and upperparts. |
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![]() The relatively shorter bill of the breeding-plumage Western Sandpiper above identifies it as probably a male; below, with a longer bill, probably a female, returning on fall migration in July. |
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![]() The bird above, in July, shows worn feathers, but not nearly as ratty as the one below, an early migrant photographed on June 18. |
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![]() A Western Sandpiper, left, with a Dunlin, right, both in fresh breeding plumage. | |
![]() Juvenile Westerns (above and below) have a mostly clear breast, no color in the head, and rufous upper scapulars, making a distinctive shoulder stripe more evident in the bird above. . |
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![]() This first-cycle bird has molted on the head and back to the plain gray non-breeding plumage, similar to adults, but retaining juvenal flight feathers. |
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![]() The flock of migrating Western Sandpipers shown standing, above, and flying, below, can be identified as juveniles by the combination of rufous in the upperparts and a clear white breast. |
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