Purple Sandpiper
The Purple Sandpiper is a small wading shorebird. Adults have short yellow legs and a medium thin dark bill with a yellow base. The body is dark above with a slight purplish gloss and mainly white below. The breast is smeared with grey and the rump is black.
The Purple Sandpiper breeds in the northern tundra and Arctic islands in Canada and coastal areas in Greenland and north west Europe and nests on the ground either elevated on rocks or in a lower damp location. The males makes several scrapes following which the female chooses one and lays 3 or 4 eggs. The male takes the major responsibility for incubation and tends the chicks.
The Purple Sandpiper is migratory and moves to rocky ice-free Atlantic coasts in winter where it is fairly gregarious, forming small flocks and often associating with Turnstones. It is also relatively tame and approachable.
In the UK, the Purple Sandpiper occurs in winter in good numbers, principally along the east and south coasts where it favours rocky shorelines adjacent to the sea. It is a very rare breeding bird and is found only in a localised area of the Cairngorms National Park where 1 to 3 pairs have bred since the 1970s.
Date: 7th November 2016
Location: Lowestoft Ness, Suffolk
The Purple Sandpiper breeds in the northern tundra and Arctic islands in Canada and coastal areas in Greenland and north west Europe and nests on the ground either elevated on rocks or in a lower damp location. The males makes several scrapes following which the female chooses one and lays 3 or 4 eggs. The male takes the major responsibility for incubation and tends the chicks.
The Purple Sandpiper is migratory and moves to rocky ice-free Atlantic coasts in winter where it is fairly gregarious, forming small flocks and often associating with Turnstones. It is also relatively tame and approachable.
In the UK, the Purple Sandpiper occurs in winter in good numbers, principally along the east and south coasts where it favours rocky shorelines adjacent to the sea. It is a very rare breeding bird and is found only in a localised area of the Cairngorms National Park where 1 to 3 pairs have bred since the 1970s.
Date: 7th November 2016
Location: Lowestoft Ness, Suffolk
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Also in: Sandpipers
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