General

Baird's Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with long wings and short legs; scaled grey-brown upperparts and white underparts except for dark-spotted grey-brown breast. Crown, face and neck are buff with fine, dark brown streaks. Rump is white with dark central stripe extending through the centre of grey-brown tail. When at rest, wings projects beyond the tail. Sexes are similar. Winter adult is greyer and has fewer streaks. Juvenile is similar to breeding adult but with scaled appearance on back highlighted by white-edged feathers.

Range and Habitat

Baird's Sandpiper: Breeds in the Arctic from eastern Siberia and Alaska to northwestern Greenland. Spends winters in South America, migrating mostly through the interior of North America; uncommon on Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Preferred habitats include freshwater marshes, riverbanks, and lakesides; less frequent on coastal and brackish marshes and adjacent grasslands. Rare vagrant to the UK and Ireland.

Breeding and Nesting

Baird's Sandpiper: These sandpipers breed on the tundra. The male builds most of the nest lined with lichen, grass and leaves. The nest is built in a dry depression on the ground, often among rocks. Four dark brown-spotted pink to olive eggs are laid in a small hollow on the dry tundra. Both parents incubate the eggs for 22 days. The young fly in 16 to 20 days.

Foraging and Feeding

Baird's Sandpiper: Their diet consists primarily of insects, spiders, and small crustaceans; they forage by picking food items off of relatively dry substrates such as baked mud, sand or grass. Their style of food capture varies. They mainly peck for food or less frequently probe. Baird's Sandpiper is less inclined to feed in water than other sandpipers.

Vocalisation

Baird's Sandpiper: Call is a low, raspy "kreeep."

Similar Species

Baird's Sandpiper: Pectoral Sandpiper has yellow legs and a lighter bill. Temminck's Stint is sparrow-sized and has yellow-brown legs.