Common sandpiper

Appearance

The adult is 18–20 cm long with a 32–35 cm 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.

This species is very similar to the slightly larger Spotted Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage. But its darker legs and feet and the crisper wing pattern tend to give it away, and of course they are only rarely found in the same location.

Habitat

It is a gregarious bird and is seen in large flocks, and has the distinctive stiff-winged flight, low over the water, of "Actitis" waders. 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.

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. In the Nukumanu language of the Nukumanu Islands, this species is usually called "tiritavoi". Another Nukumanu name for it, "matakakoni", exists, but this is considered somewhat taboo and not used when children and women are around. The reason for this is that "matakakoni" means "bird that walks a little, then copulates", in reference to the pumping tail and thrusting head movements the "Actitis" species characteristically perform during foraging.

It nests on the ground near freshwater. When threatened, the young may cling to their parent's body to be flown away to safety.

The Common Sandpiper is one of the species to which the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" applies.

It is widespread and common, and therefore classified as a Species of Least Concern by the IUCN but is a vulnerable species in some states of Australia.