DNA sequence information is incapable of determining whether it should be placed in Calidris or in the monotypic genus Micropalama.

[3] It appears most closely allied with the curlew sandpiper,[4] which is another aberrant species only tentatively placed in Calidris and could conceivably be separated with it in Erolia.

This species resembles the curlew sandpiper in its curved bill, long neck, pale supercilium and white rump.

It is readily distinguished from that species by its much longer and paler legs, which give rise to its common and scientific names.

Measurements: These birds forage on muddy, picking up food by sight, often jabbing like the dowitchers with which they often associate.