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Purple Sandpipers are very small waders. Their plumage is cryptic. The two sexes look alike. The general jizz of this species is overall dark grey-brown, with a lighter greyish front, all year round. Their breeding plumage the head and neck are mottled grey, while the chest is covered with copious grey chevrons on lighter background, the amount of chevrons diminishing towards the vent. The back and wings are dark brownish-grey, with prominent white edge lining on the wing coverts. The supercilia are weak and visible only in front of the eyes, which have dark irises. The bill has a small orange base on the upper mandible. Otherwise the minimally down-curved bill, that is about the length of the size of the head, is dark-grey. The legs and feet are greyish-yellow. In eclipse the head and neck are plain-grey and the rest of the plumage loses any indication of brown, becoming grey instead. Also the front shows less contrast, with a less prominent pattern. The supercilia become invisible, while an off-white spot appears on either side of the head, above the lores. The inner half of the bill turns greyish-orange and the legs and feet become bright orange.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Purple Sandpiper is available HERE .

Purple Sandpipers are a partly migratory, parly sedentary species. Their breeding grounds are located mostly within the Arctic circle, from central northern Canada to central northern Russia, including prominently near-coastal southern Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard, but also parts of northern Europe. The only sedentary populations are found around the coastal fringe of Iceland and of northern Scandinavia. The winter quarters of the migratory population are located along the North American East coast, from South Carolina to Newfoundland (with a small population in the Great Lakes Basin) and along the European West coast.

In Europe Purple Sandpipers are permanent residents only in near-coastal northern Scandinavia, beyond the Arctic circle. During the breeding season they extends their range into the mountainous parts of western and northern Scandinavia and along the northern half of the Kola peninsula. They also breed in Arctic coastal north-western Russia. They overwinter along the West coast of Europe, from central Scandinavia to Gibraltar, including the coastline of the British Isles and associated islands and some locations in the southern Baltic Sea. They are also found as far southward as the Azores.

During the breeding season Purple Sandpipers are usually found in Artic tundra or on, often rocky, islands. Outside the breeding season Purple Sandpipers are a coastal species, where they are again often seen in rocky habitats.

J. Pires reports finding a Purple Sandpiper on Pico Island, Azores, in November 2018. Another was spotted at Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2025. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.