Words are heavy like rocks…they weigh you down. If birds could talk, they wouldn’t be able to fly

Marilyn, from the TV show ‘Northern Exposure’

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia): Have you seen this bird?

Spotted Sandpiper

The Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia) is a small shorebird. Together with its sister species, the Common Sandpiper (A. hypoleucos) they make up the genus Actitis.

Spotted Sandpipers breeding habitat is near fresh water across most of Canada and the United States. They migrate to the southern United States and South America. They are very rare vagrants to western Europe. Spotted Sandpipers are not gregarious birds and are seldom seen in flocks.

Identification Tips:
• Length: 6.25 inches
• Fairly small, short-legged shorebird
• Yellowish or pinkish legs
• White wingstripe visible in flight
• Teeters tail when feeding and walking
• Distinctive, stiff winged, fluttery flight on bowed wings
• Sexes similar
• Juvenile similar to basic-plumaged adult

Adult alternate:
• Orange bill with a black tip
• Pale supercilium and dark eyeline
• Brown head, hindneck, back, and upperwings with small black bars
• White throat, breast and belly with bold black spots

Adult basic:
• Variably dark bill with pale base
• Pale brown head with dark eyeline and pale supercilium
• Plain dark back, upperwings with dark and buff bars
• Sides of breast brown, with finger of white extending up in front of leading edge of wing when at rest
• Throat, breast, and belly white, without dark spots

Similar species:

Solitary Sandpiper is larger and has a bold eyering, no wing stripe, white-spotted upperparts and a different flight style. The Eurasian Common Sandpiper, a rare migrant, is very similar to basic and juvenile-plumaged Spotted Sandpipers.

Spotted Sandpipers nest on the ground. Female Spotted Sandpipers may mate with more than one male, leaving incubation to the males.

The birds forage on ground or water. They pick up whatever food they see. They may also catch insects in flight. These birds eat insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates.

Spotted Sandpipers can be recognized as they forage by their constant nodding and teetering.