Common Sandpiper
Actitis hypoleucos
Small bicolored sandpiper which often bobs its tail in a distinctively wagtail-like manner. Plain brown with white underparts; distinguished from bulkier and rounder-headed Green Sandpiper by a prominent white spur at the shoulder. Found in a variety of wetland habitats; breeds on stony ground along rivers and lakeshores, with migrants occurring on muddy and rocky substrates from concrete canal banks to channels in tidal mudflats. Mainly found as singles or in small groups, not in flocks or mixed with other species.
Identification
The adult is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) long with a 32–35 cm (13–14 in) wingspan. It has greyish-brown upperparts, white underparts, short dark-yellowish legs and feet, and a bill with a pale base and dark tip. In winter plumage, they are duller and have more conspicuous barring on the wings, though this is still only visible at close range. Juveniles are more heavily barred above and have buff edges to the wing feathers.<p>This species is very similar to the slightly larger spotted sandpiper (A. macularia) in non-breeding plumage. But its darker legs and feet and the crisper wing pattern (visible in flight) tend to give it away, and of course they are only rarely found in the same location.
Taxonomy
The common sandpiper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tringa hypoleucos. The species is now placed together with the spotted sandpiper in the genus Actitis that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The genus name Actitis is from Ancient Greek aktites meaning "coast-dweller" from akte meaning "coast". The specific epithet hypoleucos combines the Ancient Greek hupo meaning "beneath" with leukos meaning "white". The species is monotypic and no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Actitis hypoleucos
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
- Genus
- Actitis
Range and habitat
The common sandpiper breeds across most of temperate and subtropical Europe and Asia, and migrates to Africa, southern Asia and Australia in winter. The eastern edge of its migration route passes by Palau in Micronesia, where hundreds of birds may gather for a stop-over. They depart the Palau region for their breeding quarters around the last week of April to the first week of May.
- Breeding range
- PAL : widespread, subarctic to temperate inland waterbody margins of Palearctic: British Is. n to Scandinavia s to Iberian Pen., e through temperate Russia to ec Chukotskiy Pen. (ne Russia), s from Turkey, Caucasus, Iran, c Asia to Kashmir (nw Himalayas), n Mongolia, ne China and Japan
- Non-breeding range
- AF, OR, AU, also Middle East : tropical to subtropical inland and coastal waterbodies of Paleotropics: sw Europe, s Macaronesia (nw of w Africa), Africa, Malagasy region, s Middle East, s, se Asia, Indonesian Arch., Philippines, Taiwan, e China, s Japan, New Guinea, Australia, Bismarck Arch. to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Micronesia
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The Common Sandpiper is usually encountered alone, occasionally in small groups, although larger flocks are sometimes formed around migration or at breeding season roosts. It seldom joins multispecies flocks. This species has a distinctive stiff-winged flight, low over the water.<p>It nests on the ground near freshwater. When threatened, the young may cling to their parent's body to be flown away to safety.<p>The common sandpiper forages by sight on the ground or in shallow water, picking up small food items such as insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates; it may even catch insects in flight.
Conservation
It is widespread and common, and therefore classified as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List but is a vulnerable species in some states of Australia. The common sandpiper is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Oriole Blackbird
Gymnomystax mexicanus
Beautiful and unmistakable: larger than most orioles, predominantly golden-yellow with black back, wings, and tail. Also note black surrounding eye and black mustache. Stout pointed bill typical of this family. Sexes alike. Found in open habitats including grasslands, marshes, and open woodland, often associated with water. Usually in small flocks. A lowland bird, not usually wandering higher than a couple hundred meters in elevation.
Black-fronted White-eye
Zosterops minor
A small bird of foothill and lower montane forest. Olive-green back, yellow throat and under the base of the tail, whitish belly and white eye-ring. Races vary, some with a green face and thin eye-ring, others with black face and a broad eye-ring. Moves in flocks in the canopy. Very similar to New Guinea White-eye, but Black-fronted usually has black around the face and yellow throat more demarcated from its white underparts. Voice, a typical, white-eye warbling song and a descending “piuu” call.
Gambel's Quail
Callipepla gambelii
Small and rotund with obvious teardrop-shaped plumes protruding from forehead. Looks gray and brown at a distance; look for buffy belly with a black patch. Males have black face and longer, more curled crest than females. Usually seen in flocks running on the ground in deserts, often close to dense thickets for cover. Well-accustomed to humans in many areas; a frequent visitor to feeders. Listen for loud wailing calls and various clucks and chuckles. Separated from similar California Quail by range; also note Gambel’s lacks scaly pattern on belly and has brighter chestnut-colored crown and sides.
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