Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) Species Guide: Appearance, Diet, Habitat, Behavior, Stats, And Conservation Status

Species Guide: Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima)
Family: Scolopacidae

APPEARANCE

The Purple Sandpiper is a wading bird. They are short and stout with orange legs and orange coloring around the upper portion of their bill. They are mainly dappled dark grey on their upperparts and white on their underparts. When seen in flight, they have a prominent white wing stripe. During the breeding season, their crown and wing feathers take on more of a dull chestnut color.

Diet

Their diet predominantly consists of invertebrates such as winkles and crustaceans, which they find on rocky coastlines as the waves recede. Much of their food is marine algae, and they also eat this. During the breeding season, they will also eat spiders and some plant material such as seeds, berries, and buds.

HABITAT

During the breeding season, the Purple Sandpiper can be found in both coastal and tundra environments. Outside of the breeding season, they are predominantly found on rocky coastlines. From a UK standpoint, there are thought to be only one or perhaps 2 breeding pairs. 

Behavior

Purple Sandpipers are shy birds; when disturbed, they will typically fly away, keeping low to the surface. Their vocalizations are quite piercing. 

Before the breeding season, males display within a territorial range. Purple Sandpipers are monogamous and pair for life. They construct depressions in the tundra, the female chooses the best site from these for the nest site, and it is lined with soft materials such as feathers and heather. The female lays a clutch of up to 4 eggs, which both the male and female incubate. When the nestlings hatch, they are covered in white down and can walk within a few hours. The male is responsible for raising the nestlings.

Biometrics

NATURAL PREDATORS

Adults are preyed upon by gulls and peregrine falcons. Their nest sites are subject to predation by mammals such as foxes and weasels.

Conservation Status

Purple Sandpipers are red-listed in the U.K. due to the lack of breeding population, and their nest locations are kept secret to prevent the actions of egg collectors. They are classified as least concern by the IUCN from a global viewpoint, albeit it is noted that generally populations are declining.

U.K.
Conservation Status

Global
Conservation Status

CITATIONS

1. Cornell Lab Of Ornithology: Purple Sandpiper [Accessed 22/03/2025] ↩︎

References

1. Message, S. and Taylor, D. (2016) Waders of Europe, Asia and North America. 1st ed. London, [England: Christopher Helm. [Accessed 22/03/2025]