Species BirdsStilt Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpiper

Calidris himantopus

CommonBird
Illustration of Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)

The Stilt Sandpiper is a long-legged, long-billed sandpiper that feeds with a distinctive sewing-machine probing motion in shallow water, resembling a dowitcher but with a drooped bill tip. In breeding plumage the rufous ear patch and barred underparts are distinctive. It is a common interior migrant but less often encountered on the coasts.

Habitat
Wet grassy tundra in summer; shallow interior marshes in migration
Diet
Aquatic invertebrates, insects, and seeds
How common
Common

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