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Common Sandpiper

Actitis hypoleucos

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesWetlandPlatform nestSmall · 48 g
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 1
Photo: Ben Fredericson from Germany · CC BY 2.0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 2
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY 3.0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 3
Photo: Stephan Sprinz · CC BY 4.0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 4
Photo: Jiro Iguchi · CC BY 4.0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 5
Photo: Mathew Robinson · CC0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 6
Photo: Mathew Robinson · CC0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 7
Photo: Duarte Frade · CC BY 4.0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 8
Photo: Ben Fredericson from Germany · CC BY 2.0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 9
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY 3.0
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), photo 10
Photo: Stephan Sprinz · CC BY 4.0

What the Common Sandpiper sounds like

Sonogram of the Common Sandpiper: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Lionel Triboulin · Nocturnal flight call · Arrondissement de Rouen (near Le Mesnil-Esnard), Seine-Maritime, Normandie, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Common Sandpiper: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Philippe_Grange · Nocturnal flight call · Arrondissement de la Roche-sur-Yon (near La Roche-sur-Yon), Vendée, Pays de la Loire, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Common Sandpiper: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Philippe_Grange · Nocturnal flight call · Ansfelden, Linz-Land, Oberösterreich, Austria · CC0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The adult is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) long with a 32–35 cm (13–14 in) 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, they are duller and have more conspicuous barring on the wings, though this is still only visible at close range. Juveniles are more heavily barred above and have buff edges to the wing feathers. This species is very similar to the slightly larger spotted sandpiper (A. macularia) in non-breeding plumage.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Common Sandpiper

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Common Sandpiper

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 161 countries with regular records, and 3 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Sweden India Spain Norway Taiwan France United Kingdom Portugal Belgium Finland South Africa Australia Germany Israel Japan United Arab Emirates Thailand China Kenya Hong Kong SAR China Malaysia Türkiye Singapore Italy Philippines Poland Indonesia Sri Lanka Czechia Greece Austria Netherlands Russia Oman Tanzania South Korea Uganda Nepal Switzerland Morocco Ireland Namibia Botswana Gambia Senegal Zimbabwe Denmark Ethiopia Iran Croatia Zambia Ghana Hungary Cyprus Bangladesh Madagascar Mongolia Bulgaria Ukraine Cambodia Slovenia Georgia Bhutan Saudi Arabia Egypt Serbia Vietnam Estonia Slovakia Kuwait Papua New Guinea Mozambique Romania Belarus Palau Rwanda Nigeria Kazakhstan Pakistan Timor-Leste Lithuania Myanmar (Burma) Malawi Qatar Eswatini Congo - Kinshasa Laos Kyrgyzstan Cape Verde Latvia Luxembourg Malta Northern Mariana Islands Isle of Man Tunisia Réunion Cameroon Guinea-Bissau Azerbaijan Maldives Jordan Gabon Moldova Djibouti Benin Algeria Albania Macao SAR China São Tomé & Príncipe Côte d’Ivoire Angola Armenia Tajikistan Montenegro Seychelles Yemen Lebanon Uzbekistan Liberia Palestinian Territories Guam Bahrain Brunei Equatorial Guinea Iraq Mauritania Congo - Brazzaville Solomon Islands Jersey Togo Sierra Leone Guinea North Macedonia Mayotte Sudan Bosnia & Herzegovina Gibraltar Burkina Faso Mauritius Libya Chad Afghanistan Kosovo Mali Somalia Niger Guernsey Central African Republic Eritrea Burundi Comoros Micronesia North Korea South Sudan Syria Lesotho Turkmenistan Andorra New Caledonia Vanuatu Samoa

Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, New Zealand, Iceland.

About the Common Sandpiper

The common sandpiper is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper, make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize. Hybridization has also been reported between the common sandpiper and the green sandpiper, a member of the closely related genus Tringa.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) Spotted SandpiperActitis maculariusAdults have short yellowish legs and an orange bill with a dark tip.

Side by side: Common Sandpiper vs Spotted Sandpiper

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