Family: Scolopacidae, Sandpipers view all from this family

Description 8" (20 cm). Similar in size and shape to Dunlin, but entire bill noticeably curved. Summer adults are rich cinnamon or chestnut. Winter birds gray above and white below. Immatures have buff breast, upperparts marked with buff scaling. White rump visible in flight.

Habitat Breeds on tundra; chiefly coastal mudflats on migration.

Nesting 4 yellow-buff eggs, with dark brown spots, in a depression on the ground in tundra.

Range Breeds in Eurasia and very rarely in northern Alaska. A rare but regular migrant to East Coast, less common on West Coast. Winters mainly in Old World.

Voice A soft dry chirrip.

Discussion Except for a small area on the Arctic coast of Alaska, where it is a rarity, this Old World species breeds solely in northern Siberia. During spring migration the adults are in their bright chestnut breeding plumage and, with their curved bills and white rumps, are easily distinguished in the field from their usual associates, the Red Knots and Dunlins. However, on fall migration in their dull winter plumage they are much more difficult to spot among the hordes of other shorebirds.