The White-rumped Sandpiper is a small shorebird that breeds in the Arctic and migrates to South America. In flight, white feathers covering the base of the tail stand out.
Breeding plumage is mainly brown and white, with rusty highlights and dark spots on the breast. The white seen in flight comes from feathers covering the base of the tail.
It breeds in moist Arctic tundra and searches for food in fields, wetlands, and tidal flats during migration. It may forage in small flocks with other shorebirds.
The female builds a moss-and-grass nest on a small rise in wet tundra. She incubates four eggs and tends the active, downy chicks. Males mate with multiple females and usually leave after the females have laid their eggs.
It probes deeply into mud, walks a short distance and probes again. Food includes midges, craneflies, beetles, leeches, marine worms, snails and tiny amphipods, as well as knotweed and sedge seeds.
A white eyebrow marks the finely streaked head, and folded wingtips extend beyond the tail. The black bill has a little reddish orange at its base. Juveniles have rusty and golden feather edges that make the back look scaly.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.