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Wood Sandpipers are small waders. Their plumage is highly 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 non-breeding adults.

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 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 Arabia they are usually seen on passage between Africa and Asia, but some birds also spend the winters in wetlands, in particular in near-coastal areas, including the coastline of Oman.

Wood Sandpipers have a preference for fresh or brackish water and also eutrophic water.

We have not seen Wood Sandpipers in Oman yet. The photos shown here were taken by M. Eaton in Sri Lanka. All photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by M. Eaton.