white-rumped sandpiper

bird

Also known as: Calidris fuscicollis

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July 23, 2026

Quick Summary

The white-rumped sandpiper (Erolia fuscicollis) is a small, migratory shorebird belonging to the family Scolopacidae. These birds breed in the Arctic and winter in southern South America. They are characterized by a streaked buff and grayish-brown plumage with a distinctive white rump.12

Sandpipers, in general, are small to medium-sized birds that frequent beaches and mudflats, especially during migration. They possess moderately long bills and legs, long, narrow wings, and short tails. Their coloration typically involves a mix of browns, buffs, and blacks on their upperparts, with lighter undersides.2

Many sandpiper species, including the white-rumped sandpiper, undertake long migrations, often nesting in the Arctic and traveling great distances to warmer climates. These migrations can be perilous, with birds facing risks of exhaustion and severe weather, but are thought to be beneficial due to reduced nest predation in Arctic breeding grounds.23

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sandpiper
The white-rumped sandpiper (C. fuscicollis), which breeds in Arctic North America and winters in southern South America, is rust-coloured in breeding season but gray otherwise. The upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), also called Bartram’s sandpiper and, mistakenly, the upland plover, is an American bird of open fields.…
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The white-rumped sandpiper (C. fuscicollis), which breeds in Arctic North America and winters in southern South America, is rust-coloured in breeding season but gray otherwise. The upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), also called Bartram’s sandpiper and, mistakenly, the upland plover, is an American bird of open fields.…
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migration
In Europe
…that shorebirds, such as the white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis), risk increased mortality from exhaustion and severe weather during the course of their long migrations. They suspect that this cost is balanced by the benefit of reduced nest predation; the Arctic tundra—a preferred shorebird breeding region—supports lower predator population densities than…
Read More
…that shorebirds, such as the white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis), risk increased mortality from exhaustion and severe weather during the course of their long migrations. They suspect that this cost is balanced by the benefit of reduced nest predation; the Arctic tundra—a preferred shorebird breeding region—supports lower predator population densities than…
Read More