Sandpipers, Snipes and Phalaropes (Scolopacidae)

Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) - HBW 3, p. 525

French: Bécasseau violet German: Meerstrandläufer Spanish: Correlimos Oscuro

Taxonomy: Tringa Maritima Brünnich, 1764, Christiansø Islands, off Bornholm, Denmark.
Formerly placed in genus Erolia. Forms superspecies with C. ptilocnemis, with which sometimes considered conspecific. Considerable geographical variation in size may warrant recognition of at least two subspecies. Monotypic.

Distribution: Arctic and subarctic, from NE Canada through Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard and Franz Josef Land to NW Siberia; also N temperate regions of Fenno-Scandia. Winters on coasts of E North America and NW Europe.