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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.

Twitcher's tip

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.

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 .

The global distribution of the Common Sandpiper is available HERE .

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.

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 first found by C. Pears at Quindalup, WA, in February 2021. A single bird has reappeared again at the same location during the southern hemisphere summer months every year since, until 2025.

We have also found Common Sandpipers in Europe and in Oman.