White-rumped Sandpipers

Description:

Small to medium-sized sandpiper. Short neck. Moderately long straight bill. Moderately long legs. Long wings extend past end of tail on resting bird. Large white patch at base of tail. Underparts white, with fine dark streaks on pale gray breast. Black chevron marks on flanks in breeding plumage. Back mostly gray in nonbreeding plumage, mixed gray and warm brown in breeding plumage.

Habitat:

One perched on a small stump, two more were perched on a log warming in the morning sun, and one was feeding along the edge of Lake Lewisville.

Notes:

Unique among the small sandpipers known as "peeps," the White-rumped Sandpiper shows white above the base of the tail. Its striking rump, along with its distinctive call note, make it readily identifiable in the midst of a flock of flying small shorebirds.