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A curlew sandpiper wading through a shallow, muddy pool. It's a small wading bird with a fairly long, downcurved beak, rusty red underparts and spangled black and red upparparts

Curlew sandpiper © Matthew Hazleton

A juvenile curlew sandpiper standing on the shore. It's a small wading bird with a fairly long, downcurved beak and a strong supercilium

Curlew sandpiper (juvenile) © Pete Richman

A curlew sandpiper standing on a beach, with a dunlin a foot away to its right, at the water's edge. It shows the larger size of the curlew sandpiper, the longer legs and the longer, more curved beak

Curlew sandpiper (left) and dunlin © Pete Richman

Curlew sandpiper

This elegant wader is an uncommon autumn visitor, often joining flocks of dunlin.

Scientific name

Calidris ferruginea

When to see

Mainly July to October

Species information

Statistics

Length: 18-23 cm
Wingspan: 38-41 cm
Weight: 45-90 g

Conservation status

Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021). Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.

Habitats

About

The curlew sandpiper is an elegant wading bird, a little larger than a dunlin. It nests on boggy Arctic tundra in northern Siberia. Its wintering grounds cover a wide area, including Africa, south and south-east Asia and Australasia. Small numbers of curlew sandpipers stop off in the UK during their migration, usually in late summer and autumn. They're often found mixed in with flocks of dunlin and other waders.

How to identify

A small wading bird, a little larger than a dunlin. It has longer legs and a longer neck than a dunlin, giving it a more elegant appearance. The bill is usually noticeably longer and curves down. Summer-plumaged adults are distinctive, with brick-red underparts. Winter-plumaged adults and juveniles have a grey back and a white belly, more similar to a dunlin, but they have a prominent white line above the eye (a supercilium). In flight, they show a square white rump patch.

Distribution

Migrants can turn up anywhere, though are more common around the coasts.

Did you know?

The nesting success of curlew sandpipers has been linked to lemming populations in the Arctic tundra. In years with high lemming populations, curlew sandpipers (and other tundra-nesting waders and geese) are able to nest successfully. But in years when lemming populations crash, predators like Artic foxes switch their diet and hunt more birds, so the birds produce fewer fledged young.