Least Sandpiper

Calidris minutilla

HOW TO IDENTIFY:

* Length: 4.75 inches
* Very small shorebird
* Short, thin, dark bill slightly decurved
* Yellow legs
* Thin, white wing stripe
* Black line on rump extends onto tail
* Sexes similar

Adult alternate:

* Brown head
* Black back feathers and wing coverts with brown edges
* Brown breast with black spotting
* White underparts
* Indistinct white supercilium with darker crown and eyeline

Adult basic:

* Similar to adult alternate but plumage gray-brown
* Gray-brown breast band
* White underparts
* Indistinct white supercilium with darker crown and eyeline

Juvenile:

* Black-based back feathers and wing coverts with bright rusty edges
* White 'V' on back
* Breast with golden cast and fine streaking
* White underparts
* Rusty crown and pale supercilium

Similar species:

The Least Sandpiper is one of a group of very similar small shorebirds called 'peeps' but the only common one with yellow legs, a brown plumage, and a thin, slightly decurved bill. The rare Long-toed Stint is very similar (see Jonsson & Grant, 1984). The Pectoral Sandpiper is also brown with yellow legs but is larger with a crisp, squared-off division between the brown breast and white belly.