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Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) German name(s): "Bruchwasserläufer" Size: 20-22 cm; wing span 55-60 cm Body mass: 40-100 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: ca. 0.40

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 Wood Sandpipers are small waders. Their plumage is cryptic. During the breeding season the neck and chest are light grey-brown, with some inconspicuous striation. The flanks are of the same colour, but with brown barring. Belly, vent and undertail coverts are white. The head has pale, almost white eyebrows, while the frons and crown are streaked white and dark-brown. The back, including the wings, is dark grey-brown with prominent, strongly contrasting white spots all over. During the non-breeding season the pale eyebrow is much more prominent, while the colours are otherwise duller in general. In particular, the colour contrast of the spots with the now more greyish brown back is reduced. In-flight they have three lines of spots on the upperwing, but no wing bar. The eyes have dark irises. The black bill is straight and about as long as the size of the head. The legs and feet are yellowish. In-flight the feet protrude beyond the tail. Juveniles have prominent buff spots on their entire back and more brown on head and neck than adults. Twitcher's tip Compared with most other species of sandpipers, they are spotted, not scalloped and/or streaked. Various species of stints, which can also have brownish chests, are visibly smaller. The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the Calidris, Tringa, Actitis etc. 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 Wood 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 Wood Sandpiper is available HERE . Wood Sandpipers are a migratory species. Their breeding grounds are located in an area ranging from northern Europe to far-eastern Asia. Most Wood Sandpipers spend the northern winters in Africa, Arabia or India, while a smaller number migrate to South-east Asia or Australia. On their migration they can be found in many locations in between, in parts along designated flight paths. In Europe Wood Sandpipers are found as breeding migrants in parts of Scotland, in most of Scandinavia (except for some lowland coastal areas) and in north-eastern Europe, from the Baltic States, Bielorussia and Ukraine eastwards. Anywhere else, except for Ireland and the western parts of Iberia, they are found only during migration. Wood Sandpipers have a preference for fresh or brackish water. They are found mostly in the estuaries of major rivers and riverine marshes, but also often in bogs or sewage treatment plants.

Sightings Click here for sighting information S. Cuturilov reports spotting Wood Sandpipers at a fish pond near Temerin, Vojvodina, Serbia, in August 2017. Others were found by A. Sarok in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024. J. Pires reports finding Wood Sandpipers occasionally in the Tejo estuary, Portugal. Another was spotted at Lagunas de Villafafila, Casas del Parque, Zamora, Castilla e Leon, Spain, in April 2024. D. Wilczynska reports finding Wood Sandpipers on the river Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, in July 2019. We have also found Wood Sandpipers in Australia.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Near-frontal view of a Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, July 2019]

Near-frontal view of a Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, July 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagunas de Villafafila, Casas del Parque, Zamora, Castilla e Leon, Spain, April 2024]

Near-lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, July 2019]

Lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagunas de Villafafila, Casas del Parque, Zamora, Castilla e Leon, Spain, April 2024]

Near-dorsal view of a Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagunas de Villafafila, Casas del Parque, Zamora, Castilla e Leon, Spain, April 2024]

Wood Sandpipers in breeding plumage seen in different light conditions; note the apparent difference not only in brightness, but also in colour - the two photos were taken only 72 seconds apart! (photos courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, July 2019]

NON-BREEDING

Near-frontal view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, December 2017]

Near-frontal view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage leaning sideways (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

Near-lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, December 2017]

Lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

Lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

Lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

Lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

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]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a resting juvenile Wood Sandpiper (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Near-frontal view of a Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage, left, feeding a dependent young
(photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

More photos of Wood Sandpipers are available on the page for Australia.

Behaviour

Social behaviour: ?

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary/small group

It is highly unusual for a small migratory wader like the Wood Sandpiper to nest not only on the ground (usually in a scrape), but to also re-use other species' nests in trees (such as, e.g., a Fieldfare's woven basket [or "cup"] nest).

Even aquatic birds such as Wood Sandpipers need to take a bath to clean their plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, July 2019]

Food, Diet

Lateral view of a Wood Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage gobbling up its prey (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

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.

wospipe_dw_20200726.m4a	(Poland)	Contact call	© DW
wospipe_dw_20190720.m4a	(Poland)	Contact calls	© DW
wospipe_dw_20190720_2.m4a	(Poland)	?	© DW

More Wood 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.