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Common Sandpiper
(Actitis hypoleucos)
: "Summer Snipe"
Size: 19-21 cm; wing span 35-41 cm
Weight: 33-70 g
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Similar species |
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Physical description |
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Click here for a physical description
Common Sandpipers are small waders.
Their plumage
is cryptic.
When seen in Australia, they are in
eclipse
plumage.
During the
non-breeding
season they have a whitish throat,
light grey-brown upper chest with darker grey-brown sides,
while the rest of the front, including shoulder bars, is
white. The sides of the head are grey-brown, with a darker
eye stripe and crown and a lighter eyebrow and cheeks and
ear coverts. The nape of the neck is also grey-brown. The
back, including the wings, is darker grey-brown, with a
faint light-brown bar pattern that is also visible on the
sides of the tail.
In-flight they show a broad white wing bar and white terminal
spots on the outer tail feathers.
During the breeding season, the sides of the head and the
neck show more streaking, while the bar pattern on the back
and wings becomes bolder and more prominent, with more brown
hues visible than grey.
The eyes have dark irises. The grey bill is straight and a bit
longer than the size of the head. The legs and feet are olive-grey.
In flight the feet do not protrude beyond the tip of the tail.
Juveniles
roughly resemble
non-breeding
adults, but
they have a crisper, tidier
plumage.
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Twitcher's tip |
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Compared with
Green Sandpipers,
Common Sandpipers are smaller, have visible white shoulder bars and
in-flight show white wing bars. A photo taken in
Oman showing the two species together in non-breeding
plumage is available
HERE.
The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the
Calidris, Tringa, Actitis and
related families or of the Charadrius, Pluvialis and related genera
in the field can be quite tricky. We have therefore made an attempt to
give some advice HERE.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See Common
Sandpiper at Wikipedia .
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
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The global distribution of the Common Sandpiper is available
HERE
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Common Sandpipers are a migratory species that can be seen in
flocks during migration.
They breed across most of temperate and subtropical
Europe
and Asia and spend the northern winters in Africa,
Arabia,
southern Asia and
Australia.
In Australia
Common Sandpipers migrate from the North around the entire coastal
fringe of the continent. They settle mostly in the western part of the
tropical North of the NT, along the Australian West coast and in
southern SA, VIC and the South coast of NSW; they are also found
along the coastline of Tasmania. After substantial rainfall
they will venture further into the semi-arid interior - basically
anywhere except the driest part of the continent, i.e. the major
sandy deserts of eastern WA, the south-western NT, the western
half of SA, and the Nullarbor.
In Australia Common Sandpipers are usually found along
beaches, but also
along river banks
and in intertidal
wetlands, sometimes also on
rocks.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
We first spotted a pair of Common Sandpipers at Lee Point, Darwin,
NT, in August 2014.
Various contributors report spotting Common Sandpipers in different
locations along the coastline of Darwin, NT, semi-regularly.
J. Greaves reports spotting a Common Sandpiper at Yellow Water
billabong,
Kakadu NP,
NT, in November 2014.
J. Greaves also reports finding a Common Sandpiper at Salter Point,
Canning River, Perth, in January 2017.
M. Eaton found Common Sandpipers at Newell Beach, QLD, in
December 2018.
J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours reports spotting a Common
Sandpiper along the Daintree River, QLD, in October 2020.
A single Common Sandpiper was found by C. Pears at Quindalup,
WA, in February 2021 and again in January 2022 and in October 2022.
We have also found Common Sandpipers in
Europe and
in Oman.
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Photos |
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ADULT |
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BREEDING |
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Near-frontal view of a Common Sandpiper in fresh breeding
plumage
on a rockface
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Nightcliff, Darwin, NT, March 2013]
Near-frontal view of a Common Sandpiper in fresh breeding
plumage
spreading its wings, giving a clear view of the underwing
pattern (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Nightcliff, Darwin, NT, March 2013]
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NON-BREEDING |
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Frontal view of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Quindalup, WA, October 2022]
Near-frontal view from above of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage seen from above
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[East Point, Darwin, NT, December 2017]
Near-lateral view from above of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[East Point, Darwin, NT, December 2017]
Close-up lateral view of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Daintree River, QLD, October 2020]
Lateral view of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
on a rockface
[Lee Point, Darwin, NT, August 2014]
Lateral view from above of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[East Point, Darwin, NT, December 2017]
Near-dorsal view from above of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[East Point, Darwin, NT, December 2017]
Near-dorsal view of a Common Sandpiper in extremely worn non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Buffalo Creek, Darwin, July 2020]
Dorsal view from above of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[East Point, Darwin, NT, December 2017]
Dorsal view of a Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
(photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Salter Point, Canning River, Perth, January 2017]
More photos were taken by us in Oman.
Common Sandpipers are not "wading waders", but tend to stay on
land, by the water's edge, going after e.g. flies.
They are well-known for bobbing their tails, which
proved to be a major loss of potentially good photos during the
course of our observations...
Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
in an intertidal
wetland (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Darwin, NT, March 2018]
Common Sandpiper in non-breeding
plumage
on huge boulders
(photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Darwin, NT, March 2018]
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Food, Diet |
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We have seen Common Sandpipers take flies from the fringes of
water courses, where they had sat down to drink water (see
here).
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Call(s)/Song |
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For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The
interpretation of their meaning is our own; are welcome.
More Common Sandpiper sound recordings are available at
xeno-canto.org
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These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors.
The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.