[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

This Purple Sandpiper in flight was photographed along a jetty on the southern coast of Long Island in New York, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 64 film. (Date: March 1983)

[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

This Purple Sandpiper in flight was photographed along a jetty on the central coast of New Jersey, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 64 film. (Date: March 1983)

[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

This Purple Sandpiper was photographed at Barnegat Light, New Jersey, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor EDAF 300 f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: December 2000)

[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

Purple Sandpipers breed in the high Arctic coastal regions of eastern North America, northern Europe, and northcentral Russia. In winter they congregate in small flocks of as many as 50 to 75 birds. In North America they are common wintering birds of rocky coasts and jetties along the east coast of Canada and the US south to the Carolinas. They are quite tame, and can often be closely approached, as this one was on a wave-splashed jetty in midwinter. This one was photographed in the early morning light of mid-winter at Jones Beach in Long Island, New York, USA. Photo taken with a Celestron 750mm f5.6 lens on Ektachrome 400 film. (Date: February 1978)

[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

This Purple Sandpiper was photographed at Port Mansfield, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC14E II 1.4x Teleconverter (EFL=630mm) on a Nikon D7000 camera. (Date: January 24, 2012)

[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

This Purple Sandpiper was photographed at Port Mansfield, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC17E II 1.7x Teleconverter (EFL=750mm) on a Nikon D7000 camera. (Date: January 24, 2012)

[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

This Purple Sandpiper was photographed at Port Mansfield, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC20E III 2.0x Teleconverter (EFL=900mm) on a Nikon D7000 camera. (Date: January 24, 2012)

[Length 9 in. Wingspan 17 in.]

This Rock Sandpiper was photographed in the famous "boneyards" at the village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Ektachrome 800 film. (Date: June 1989)

[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)