Common sandpiper

Actitis hypoleucos

A small sandpiper that bobs its tail along water edges, breeding in Eurasia and wintering from Africa to Australia.

Key facts

Common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is a carnivore animal classified as Bird · Charadriiformes · Scolopacidae.
Primary habitats are freshwater · coast, with a range across Palearctic · Afrotropical · Indomalayan · Australasian.
Activity is diurnal, sociality is solitary, and conservation status is LC (Least Concern).
A small sandpiper that bobs its tail along water edges, breeding in Eurasia and wintering from Africa to Australia.
Lives along rivers, lake shores, ponds, marshes, tidal flats, and rocky coasts, especially freshwater margins during breeding.

Habitat range map

Native rangeOccasional / Transient

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Lives along rivers, lake shores, ponds, marshes, tidal flats, and rocky coasts, especially freshwater margins during breeding.

Brown upperparts contrast with white underparts, with a white shoulder notch. Flight is low and direct with a pale wing stripe.

Usually solitary, it walks along water edges while bobbing the body and tail, searching narrow strips of shore.

Insects, crustaceans, worms, mollusks, and small invertebrates are picked from shallow water and mud surfaces.

Hidden ground nests are placed near freshwater. Precocial chicks feed along shorelines under parental guidance.

Migrants may appear even on urban rivers, but natural shallow edges and cover remain important.