8

Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) German name(s): "Waldwasserläufer" Size: 21-24 cm; wing span 57-61 cm Body mass: 53-119 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.3-0.4

Europe: Family Group 8 Family Group 8 Table Ruddy Turnstone Common Snipe Eurasian Woodcock Bar-tailed Godwit Black-tailed Godwit Eurasian Curlew Whimbrel Little Curlew Sanderling Temminck's Stint Little Stint Dunlin Purple Sandpiper Marsh Sandpiper Common Greenshank Common Redshank Spotted Redshank Lesser Yellowlegs Wood Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Green Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Ruff Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Green Sandpipers are small waders. Their plumage is cryptic. When seen in Europe, they can be in both breeding and non-breeding plumage. During the non-breeding season they have a grey head, except for some light striation on the throat and white eye-rings. The upper chest is greyish-brown. The rest of the front, from the lower chest to the undertail coverts, is white. The crown, nape of the neck and back are greyish-brown, with sparse white speckles on mantle and wings. In-flight they do not show a wing bar, but a white rump and uppertail with three black bars. During the breeding season, head and neck show more white streaking and the spot pattern on the back becomes bolder, although the differences are subtle. The eyes have dark irises. The olive-grey bill has a dark-grey tip, is straight and a bit longer than the size of the head. The legs and feet are olive-grey. In flight the toes of the feet protrude beyond the tip of the tail. Juveniles roughly resemble adults in eclipse, but they have a darker general appearance, less prominent eye-rings and a tidier spot pattern. Twitcher's tip Compared with Common Sandpipers, Green Sandpipers are larger and do not have white shoulder bars or wing bars. 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.

Taxonomy, classification See Green Sandpiper at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species 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 . The global distribution of the Green Sandpiper is available HERE . Green Sandpipers are a strongly migratory species. They breed throughout subarctic Europe and Asia and spend the northern winters in southern Europe, parts of Arabia, the Indian subcontinent, South-east Asia, and tropical Africa. In southern, central and western Europe Green Sandpipers are found as winter visitors, while in eastern and northern Europe they are breeding migrants. Their strongholds in winter are in southern England, the North Sea near-coastal fringe from the German Wattensee, via the Benelux countries, western France, to Iberia, and in parts of the Mediterranean, in Greece, as well as the Balearic islands and Sardinia. Their breeding grounds are located eastward of the Oder/Neisse line in Germany, northward of 50 degrees latitude, into eastern Europe, including most of Scandinavia (except the far North), the Kola peninsula and the northern coastal fringe of Russia. During their migration they can be found basically anywhere in between. Green Sandpipers have a strong preference for fresh water habitats, often in wooded areas, such as bogs and marshes. On migration they are also often found in roadside ditches and the edges of ponds, again often with concealing vegetation.

Sightings Click here for sighting information J. Pires reports spotting Green Sandpipers regularly, mostly during the winter months, but also sometimes in summertime, in various locations in southern/central Portugal. A. Sarok reports finding a Green Sandpiper in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024. Twitcher's tip For those who have difficulties telling Green Sandpipers and Common Sandpipers apart, there is a photo below showing both species together.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Frontal view of a Green Sandpiper in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2019]

Near-frontal view of a Green Sandpiper in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, July 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Green Sandpiper moulting into breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, January 2019]

Lateral view of a Green Sandpiper in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Lateral view of a Green Sandpiper moulting out of breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, July 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a Green Sandpiper in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, February 2020]

Small group of Green Sandpipers in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, July 2018]

NON-BREEDING

Lateral view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, November 2018]

Lateral view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage stretching its wings, given a clear view of its underwings
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2018]

Lateral view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, January 2020]

Lateral view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, January 2020]

To the best of our knowledge the bird in this lateral view is a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage, however with a peculiarly down-curved bill (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[EVOA, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2022]

To the best of our knowledge the bird in this lateral view is a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage, however with a peculiarly down-curved bill (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[EVOA, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2022]

Near-dorsal view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, December 2019]

Dorsal view of a resting Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, November 2018]

Lateral view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage in flight; note the broad bars on the tail (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, Coruche, Santarem, Portugal, December 2017]

Lateral views of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photos courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil Dam, near Mora, Evora, Portugal, October 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage in flight; note the broad black bars on the tail
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, October 2019]

Dorsal view of a Green Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage banking to land - note the absence of wing bars and the white uppertail with broad black terminal bars (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, January 2020]

Comparison between a Green Sandpiper, right, and a Common Sandpiper, both in non-breeding plumage
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2018]

Northern Lapwings in non-breeding plumage, together with several species of very similar waders: Green Sandpiper, front left, Wood Sandpiper, near the centre, and all others are Common Sandpipers (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, July 2019]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: ?

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

grnspip_dw_20200807.m4a	(Poland)	Contact call(?)	© DW
grnspip_dw_20200807_2.m4a	(Poland)	Contact calls(?)	© DW
grnspip_dw_20200807_4.m4a	(Poland)	Various	© DW
grnspip_dw_20200726.m4a	(Poland)	(In-flight) (+ yapping dog)	© DW

More Green Sandpiper sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

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.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.