Field Guide
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Common Sandpiper
Actitis hypoleucos
Not yet photographed by the community
Bobs tail constantly; low flight with stiff wingbeats over water.
Species Profile
Green List (breeding population stable)
- Lifespan
- 12–15 years in the wild
- Size & Weight
- 19–21 cm, wingspan 32–35 cm; 40–60 g
- Habitat
- Found along fast-flowing rivers, streams, lakeshores, and coastal mudflats, preferring stony or shingle substrates with sparse vegetation.
- UK Distribution
- Summer breeding visitor to upland and northern regions, particularly Scotland, Wales, and northern England; passage migrant throughout the UK during spring (April–May) and autumn (July–September); rare winter visitor.
- Diet
- Feeds on small invertebrates including insects, spiders, crustaceans, and molluscs, picked from the ground or shallow water.
- Prey
- Insects (chironomid larvae, mayflies), spiders, small crustaceans, and molluscs
- Predators
- Merlins, sparrowhawks, herons, foxes, and occasionally larger gulls; eggs and chicks vulnerable to crows and stoats
- Mating Season
- April to July
- Breeding
- Clutch of 4 eggs; incubation period 21–22 days; single brood per year; chicks fledge at 17–21 days; nests in shallow scrape lined with pebbles and vegetation near water.
- Behaviour
- A characteristic bobbing gait on the ground with tail held high; highly vocal during breeding season with distinctive piping calls. Solitary or in pairs during breeding; gregarious on migration and in winter. Hunts by walking along water margins, probing and gleaning for prey.
- •The Common Sandpiper has an distinctive nodding walk and constantly bobs its rear end, earning it the nickname 'bobbie dazzler' in some regions
- •It is one of the most widespread wading birds globally, breeding across the Northern Hemisphere
- •Males perform a butterfly-like display flight over their territory during breeding season, flying with stiff wingbeats
- •Their chicks are precocial (fluffy and mobile from hatching) and can feed themselves within hours of emerging from the egg
- •Despite being a common breeding bird, UK populations fluctuate with weather conditions on their African wintering grounds
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