Calidris maritima
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America and winters further south on the Atlantic coast.
The purple sandpiper was formally described in 1764 by the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich and given the binomial name Tringa maratina. This species was formerly placed in the genus Erolia, but is now placed with 23 other sandpipers in the genus Calidris that was introduced in 1804 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. Within the genus Calidris the purple sandpiper is sister to the rock sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) and is closely related to the sanderling... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svalbard | 🇳🇴 Norway | |
| 2 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 4 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dublin | 🇮🇪 Ireland | |
| 2 | Rotterdam [The Hague] | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 3 | Porto | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 4 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Lisbon | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 9 | Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Sandpiper sighting in Svalbard on a given day, based on 1,454 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 10th most-seen of the 48 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Sandpiper in Svalbard on a given day, against about 20% in April, the lowest month. November to January have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple Sandpiper sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Purple Sandpiper sightings, Svalbard has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, about 10%) and Vatnajokull National Park (Iceland, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple Sandpiper is recorded against all the birds logged in Svalbard (1,454 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
