Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Photo: Tim Lenz from Ithaca · CC BY 2.0

Sandpipers and Allies

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Calidris subruficollis

VUVulnerable
Family
Sandpipers and Allies (Scolopacidae)
Order
Charadriiformes

Overview

The buff-breasted sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis) is a small shorebird. The species name subruficollis is from Latin subrufus, "reddish" (from sub, "somewhat", and rufus, "rufous") and collis, "-necked/-throated" (from collum, "neck"). It is a calidrid sandpiper, notable for its long annual migration, from the artic region of North America to the pampas region of South America.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Breeds high Arctic dry coastal tundra from Wrangel Island (northeastern Siberia) eastward through Alaskan North Slope to northeastern Canada, including Arctic islands from Banks to Devon; migrates to grassland of southeastern Brazil and Uruguay to central Argentina; prone to extreme vagrancy worldwide.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.