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Rock Sandpiper - Aleutians
[Calidris ptilocnemis couesi]
[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]
Rock Sandpipers are small, plump shorebirds with a longish, slightly decurved bill.
In summer they have a reddish brown cap and back, a dark ear patch, and a black breast patch.
In winter they are a dark steel-gray above and on the throat and upper breast.
They breed along the coasts of far eastern Siberia, Bering Sea islands, western Alaska, and out along the entire Aleutian Island chain.
In winter they withdraw to the inner Aleutians and along the coasts of southern Alaska, western Canada, and the western US as far south as central California.
This "Aleutian" Rock Sandpiper was photographed on Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA.
Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 64 film.
(Date: May 1984)
(use image name "sandrk" for inquiries)
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