Curlew Sandpiper
Spotted on migration near Penzance in the last few days.
Taxonomic name: Calidris ferruginea.
Green status.
Can be easily mistaken for a Dunlin, but it is a little more elegant and a bit more elongated, and in autumn it looks cleaner and paler with a pale grey body above and white below and a white stripe over the eye.
It has a longer, more down-curved black bill than a Dunlin. It has a beautiful chestnut, breeding plumage in the spring making a flock a very colourful sight. In flight it shows a bright white rump which is only copied by some other rarer waders and not by Dunlin.
Its length is about 18 – 23cm (7 – 9in) and a wingspan of about 38 – 41cm (15 – 16in).
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Kevin ONeill
Latest posts by Kevin ONeill (see all)
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