Common Sandpiper
The Common Sandpiper is a small wader. The adult is 7.1 to 7.9 inches long with a 13 to 14 inches wingspan. It has greyish-brown upperparts, white underparts, short dark-yellowish legs and feet and a bill with a pale base and dark tip. In winter plumage, it is duller and has more conspicuous barring on the wings although this is still only visible at close range. Juveniles are more heavily barred above and have buff edges to the wing feathers.
The Common Sandpiper habitually bobs up and down and it has a distinctive flight with stiff, bowed wings. Its presence is often betrayed by its three-note call which it gives as it flies off.
The Common Sandpiper is widespread and common and breeds across most of temperate and sub-tropical Europe and Asia where it nests on the ground near freshwater. It migrates to Africa, south Asia and Australia in winter.
In the UK, the Common Sandpiper breeds along fast-flowing upland streams and rivers and at the edges of lochs and lakes in Scotland, Wales and the north of England. Summer visitors arrive in March and April and leave the breeding grounds in July and August with the young following in September. During the spring and autumn passage migration, it can be found elsewhere in the UK, near lakes, gravel pits, reservoirs, rivers, ditches, coastal shores and estuaries.
The Common Sandpiper forages by sight on the ground or in shallow water, picking up small food items such as insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates.
Date: 17th June 2014
Location: Dulnain Bridge, Highland
The Common Sandpiper habitually bobs up and down and it has a distinctive flight with stiff, bowed wings. Its presence is often betrayed by its three-note call which it gives as it flies off.
The Common Sandpiper is widespread and common and breeds across most of temperate and sub-tropical Europe and Asia where it nests on the ground near freshwater. It migrates to Africa, south Asia and Australia in winter.
In the UK, the Common Sandpiper breeds along fast-flowing upland streams and rivers and at the edges of lochs and lakes in Scotland, Wales and the north of England. Summer visitors arrive in March and April and leave the breeding grounds in July and August with the young following in September. During the spring and autumn passage migration, it can be found elsewhere in the UK, near lakes, gravel pits, reservoirs, rivers, ditches, coastal shores and estuaries.
The Common Sandpiper forages by sight on the ground or in shallow water, picking up small food items such as insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates.
Date: 17th June 2014
Location: Dulnain Bridge, Highland
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