Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Calidris subruficollis
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Identification
A small to medium sized shorebird. Head and neck buff with black spots on crown and nape. Large dark eye. Upperparts black with coarse buff scaling. Underparts buff. Legs and feet bright yellow.
Confusing Species
Juvenile Ruff
Upland Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper
Distribution
Distribution
No ordinary distribution in Australia.
Migratory habits
Migrates south to grasslands of South America
Breeding
Breeds in northern Alaska and Canada and on Wrangel Island.
Sightings of Buff-breasted Sandpiper in Australia
| Location | State | Sighting period |
| Richmond | NSW | Dec 1982 to Jan 1983 |
| Moulting Lagoon | TAS | 23/10/1980 |
| Barilla Bay | TAS | 26/01/1988 |
| Lake Bathurst | NSW | 8/01/1993 |
| Bushells Lagoon | NSW | 14/12/2002 |
| Lake Wollumboola | NSW | 26/03/1999 |
| Ash Island | NSW | 14/02/2004 |
| ICI Saltfields, Adelaide | SA | 21/02/1986 |
| Hexam Swamp | NSW | 18/01/2014 |
| Lake Murdeduke | VIC | Jan 2017 to Mar 2017 |
| Jerseyville | NSW | Nov 2018 to Dec 2018 |
| Bald Hills, Brisbane | QLD | 27/10/2019 |
| Wrights Creek | QLD | 19/11/2019 |
| Eighty Mile Beach | WA | 28/11/2020 |
| Lake Wollumboola | NSW | Dec 2020 to Mar 2021 |
| Bundaberg Port | QLD | Feb 2009 to Apr 2009 |
| Port of Brisbane | QLD | March 2019 |
| Tinchi Tamba Wetlands | QLD | Dec 2022 |
| France Rd Turf Farm, Cairns | QLD | Nov 2019 |
References
- Geering, Andrew, Lindsay Agnew, and Sandra Harding, eds. Shorebirds of Australia. Csiro Publishing, 2007.
- BirdLife Australia (2023). Buff-breasted Sandpiper. [Text before updates sourced from: Marchant, S. et al (eds) 1990-2006 Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds.Volume 1 to 7.] Birdlife Australia. Birdlife Australia. Source: https://hanzab.birdlife.org.au/species/buff-breasted-sandpiper/ Accessed: July 13, 2026 Time Zone: +10:00
- McCarty, J. P., L. L. Wolfenbarger, C. D. Laredo, P. Pyle, and R. B. Lanctot (2020). Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bubsan.01
- eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org (Accessed: Date 12/4/2026)
- Rogers A, Fuller RA & Amano T (2023) Australia’s migratory shorebirds: Trends and prospects. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. University of Queensland, Brisbane.
- Driessen, J., Kidd, L. R., Weller, D. R., Purnell, C., Maguire, G., Jaensch, R., and LeClair, S. M. (2025). Australian National Directory of Important Migratory Shorebird Habitat. Report for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.
- https://sproggies63.github.io/birding_apps/