in color, and the face is pale Identification The two primary features used to identify this bird in the field are its long wings and its white rump. The white patch on the rump can be seen while the bird is in flight. Its long wings extend beyond the tail by about a quarter inch. Baird's sandpiper also shows this trait but can be distinguished by the lack of a white rump. There is also a thin white stripe on the wing and a row of marks on the flanks below the wings. Habitat and distribution The white-rumped sandpiper inhabits relatively vegetated patches of the tundra. More specifically, they live in the marshy, heavily vegetated, hummocky arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada during the breeding season. They can be found in various types of wetlands while migrating. During the winter months they inhabit a variety of freshwater and saltwater habitats such as lagoons, estuaries and marshes. In general, they tend to avoid sandy beaches and fast moving water. Migration They are a long distance migrant, wintering in southern South America and the Caribbean. They are considered one of the most extreme long distance migrants in the world, traversing the entire continent of North America in the span of one month. The white-rumped sandpiper is a nearctic migrant. After breeding in northern Canada and Alaska, it flies over the Atlantic Ocean to spend the majority of its non-breeding period in South America, particularly along the Patagonian coast in both Chile and Argentina. It also frequently visits Fracasso Beach, Argentina. Many shorebirds concentrate in this area due to the abundance of intertidal invertebrates, especially clams. The white-rumped sandpiper has also been spotted in Venezuela, Suriname, Brazil and Paraguay during its migration. They are rare but regular vagrants to western Europe and a rare vagrant to Australia. The birds migrate with both nonstop and short-distance multiple-stop flights. During their migration from north to south, they fly over the Atlantic Ocean, gradually moving along the northeastern coast of South America before heading inland towards the islands. This travel generally takes about one month. On their migration from south to north, the white-rumped sandpiper follows a similar path, but does it much more quickly. This migration is done in a fast series of long flights without stopping. One nonstop flight can be as long as . Weather patterns play a crucial role in determining the