Overview

Least Sandpiper: This small sandpiper has brown-scaled upperparts and a rust-brown crown. The breast and throat are dark-spotted; belly, under tail are white. The wings have thin white stripes visible in flight. The black line on the rump extends onto the tail. The legs and feet are yellow-green. It feeds mostly on insects. It has a swift direct flight with rapid wing beats. Sexes are similar.

Least Sandpiper: Rare vagrant to the UK & Ireland. Breeds from inland Alaska across northern Canada to Labrador and south to Nova Scotia. Spends winters from the Pacific coast, across the southern U.S. south to central South America and the West Indies. Frequents sandy beaches and exposed tidal flats.

Xeno-Canto Sound

Least Sandpiper C1

• Title: Least Sandpiper C1
• Recordist: Paul Marvin
• Description: Flight call is a high-pitched "kreep".
• Location: CA
• Date: "March 16, 2017"

Least Sandpiper A2

• Title: Least Sandpiper A2
• Recordist: Andrew Spencer
• Description: Both rapidly trilled and repeated "seet" alarm calls.
• Location: AK
• Date: "March 16, 2017"

Least Sandpiper A3

• Title: Least Sandpiper A3
• Recordist: Andrew Spencer
• Description: Song in flight.
• Location: YT
• Date: "March 16, 2017"

Least Sandpiper A4

• Title: Least Sandpiper A4
• Recordist: Andrew Spencer
• Description: Song is a series of high "trrree" notes and trills.
• Location: YT
• Date: "March 16, 2017"

Voice Text

"Dididididi", "preeep", "pree-rreeep"

• A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.
• The Least Sandpiper was first described in 1819 by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, a French ornithologist. It is the smallest shorebird in the world.
• They often occur in flocks of dozens or hundreds, rather than thousands like some other sandpipers.
• They tend to forage at the upper edge of mudflats or along drier margins of inland ponds than other related small sandpipers.

• Sanderling
• Curlew Sandpiper
• Knot
• Temminck's Stint
• Pectoral Sandpiper

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

ORDER

The gulls, plovers, sheathbills of the Antarctic, predatory skuas, and sandpipers are five of the nineteen families in the taxonomic order CHARADRIIFORMES (pronounced kah-RAH-dree-ih-FOR-meez).

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The sandpipers are in the Scolopacidae (pronounced skoh-loh-PAY-suh-dee) family, a group of ninety-one species of wading birds in twenty-one genera occurring nearly worldwide (IOC World Bird List, version 2.3).

EUROPE

In Europe, fifty-six species of sandpipers in eighteen genera have occurred. Included among these birds are the large, long-billed godwits and curlews, the harlequin-like Ruddy Turnstone, and a variety of sandpiper species.

KNOWN FOR

Sandpipers have an affinity for the water’s edge. The Sanderling is known for its habit of running on beaches to pursue and retreat from waves in its attempt to remain at the very edge of the water.

PHYSICAL

Sandpipers range from the sparrow-sized stints to the heron-sized curlews. In general, they have plump bodies, short tails, longish necks with small heads, and long, pointed wings for fast, long distance flight. Leg length varies among species although most have fairly long legs suited for wading. Sandpipers also demonstrate a wide variety of bill sizes and shapes that reflect different feeding behaviours. There are short, stubby bills, thin medium length bills, long, thin bills, and decurved bills.

COLORATION

Aside from the Ruddy Turnstone with its striking black, white, and orange plumage with red legs and bill, most sandpipers are plumaged in browns, grey, white and black although orangish colours are also shown by the breeding plumages of dowitchers and the Knot. In most species, these colours are combined for handsome, intricate patterns that act as camouflage and attract mates in the breeding season. During the winter, most species molt into drab grey and white plumages.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Sandpipers occur in a wide variety of aquatic habitats that include mudflats, beaches, shores of ponds, lakes and rivers, wet meadows, and marshes although the Woodcock frequents wet woodlands. Most members of this family breed in the extensive wetlands and bogs of the taiga and Arctic tundra, utilizing other wetland habitats during migration and winter.

MIGRATION

Many members of this family are migrants, several species flying to sub-Saharan Africa for the winter.

HABITS

The majority of sandpipers occur in flocks outside of the breeding season. They can often be seen foraging in mixed flocks for a variety of invertebrates and crustaceans, each species searching for food in a different manner or in different habitats. For example the Little Stint probes just below the mud at water’s edge, dowitchers probe deep into the mud further out in the water, and the Greenshank chases small fry with its bill held below the surface of the water.

CONSERVATION

Although most European sandpipers are not threatened, a few species are listed as near-threatened, and the Slender-billed Curlew has become critically endangered (and may even be extinct). The reasons for its decline are not fully known but are suspected to be related to destruction of grassland and wetland habitats on its probable breeding grounds in central Asia.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Turnstone gets its name from its habit of using its wedge-shaped bill to flip over pebbles and bits of debris to get at insects and small crustaceans hiding underneath. It also feeds on carrion and will puncture and feed on eggs at tern colonies.

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

ORDER

The gulls, plovers, sheathbills of the Antarctic, predatory skuas, and sandpipers are five of the nineteen families in the taxonomic order CHARADRIIFORMES (pronounced kah-RAH-dree-ih-FOR-meez).

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The sandpipers are in the Scolopacidae (pronounced skoh-loh-PAY-suh-dee) family, a group of ninety-one species of wading birds in twenty-one genera occurring nearly worldwide (IOC World Bird List, version 2.3).

EUROPE

In Europe, fifty-six species of sandpipers in eighteen genera have occurred. Included among these birds are the large, long-billed godwits and curlews, the harlequin-like Ruddy Turnstone, and a variety of sandpiper species.

KNOWN FOR

Sandpipers have an affinity for the water’s edge. The Sanderling is known for its habit of running on beaches to pursue and retreat from waves in its attempt to remain at the very edge of the water.

PHYSICAL

Sandpipers range from the sparrow-sized stints to the heron-sized curlews. In general, they have plump bodies, short tails, longish necks with small heads, and long, pointed wings for fast, long distance flight. Leg length varies among species although most have fairly long legs suited for wading. Sandpipers also demonstrate a wide variety of bill sizes and shapes that reflect different feeding behaviours. There are short, stubby bills, thin medium length bills, long, thin bills, and decurved bills.

COLORATION

Aside from the Ruddy Turnstone with its striking black, white, and orange plumage with red legs and bill, most sandpipers are plumaged in browns, grey, white and black although orangish colours are also shown by the breeding plumages of dowitchers and the Knot. In most species, these colours are combined for handsome, intricate patterns that act as camouflage and attract mates in the breeding season. During the winter, most species molt into drab grey and white plumages.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Sandpipers occur in a wide variety of aquatic habitats that include mudflats, beaches, shores of ponds, lakes and rivers, wet meadows, and marshes although the Woodcock frequents wet woodlands. Most members of this family breed in the extensive wetlands and bogs of the taiga and Arctic tundra, utilizing other wetland habitats during migration and winter.

MIGRATION

Many members of this family are migrants, several species flying to sub-Saharan Africa for the winter.

HABITS

The majority of sandpipers occur in flocks outside of the breeding season. They can often be seen foraging in mixed flocks for a variety of invertebrates and crustaceans, each species searching for food in a different manner or in different habitats. For example the Little Stint probes just below the mud at water’s edge, dowitchers probe deep into the mud further out in the water, and the Greenshank chases small fry with its bill held below the surface of the water.

CONSERVATION

Although most European sandpipers are not threatened, a few species are listed as near-threatened, and the Slender-billed Curlew has become critically endangered (and may even be extinct). The reasons for its decline are not fully known but are suspected to be related to destruction of grassland and wetland habitats on its probable breeding grounds in central Asia.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Turnstone gets its name from its habit of using its wedge-shaped bill to flip over pebbles and bits of debris to get at insects and small crustaceans hiding underneath. It also feeds on carrion and will puncture and feed on eggs at tern colonies.

Artist

Chris Vest