Bird Calls Radio's Bird of the Day for Tuesday, Sept. 13

The Bird Calls Radio’s Bird of the Day for Tuesday, Sept. 13, is the purple sandpiper. While not actually purple like the purple gallinule of the South is purple, purple sandpipers are purple in a more modest, hardy, rugged northern way. That is to say not really purple at all, but rather darker than most shorebirds you’ll come across.

And the purple sandpiper certainly is a rugged species. They are northern birds and venture south to New England in winter, hanging out on rocks mostly off shore. A handful are usually seen during Christmas Bird Counts in coastal New England counts. For the past several years, Larry Flynn and I have found purple sandpipers on the same set of rocks off the coast of Norwalk during the Westport Circle of the Christmas Bird Count.

A lot of sandpipers and other shorebirds look alike — which is why they are often collectively referred to as peeps — but the purple sandpiper is distinctive, with its darker and heavier body and larger bill. They are almost always found on rocks near or surrounded by water, which is another key to identification.

Be sure to check out Bird Calls every Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. on WSTC/WNLK AM1400/1350 (in S. CT and nearby NY) or https://birdcallsradio.com/listen-live/ from anywhere in the world (where there’s Internet access, that is.) Thanks for checking in.