Family Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes (Scolopacidae)
Least Concern
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Taxonomy
French: Chevalier guignette German: Flussuferläufer Spanish: Andarríos chico
Taxonomy:
Tringa Hypoleucos
Linnaeus
, 1758,Sweden
.Distribution:
Europe E across C Asia (extending S to W Himalayas) to Kamchatka, Sakhalin and Japan. Winters from W Europe and Africa through Middle East and S & SE Asia to Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia; irregularly on islands of W Pacific.
Descriptive notes
19–21 cm; 33–93 g; wingspan 38–41 cm. Small, short-legged sandpiper, with pale eye-ring; greenish-brown upperparts, white underparts with dark lateral... read more
Voice
Song (given by both sexes and usually accompanying display flights) is variable in both speed and... read more
Habitat
Prefers margins of waterbodies, mostly riverbanks, preferably with pebbles, sand or rocks and... read more
Food and feeding
Adult and larval insects (e.g. beetles, Diptera), spiders, molluscs, crustaceans and annelids, sometimes frogs, tadpoles or small fish;... read more
Breeding
Lays mainly May–Jun, but starts late Apr in NW Europe. Monogamous, but occasional polyandry reported and may be more frequent than... read more
Movements
Migratory, with birds perhaps capable of single flights of up to 4000 km in spring. Many move to S... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). European breeding population comprises 885,000 pairs (1986), of which 96% found in Fennoscandia (where numbers appear to have been... read more
Formerly considered conspecific with A. macularius and a mixed pairing with the latter has been recorded in Scotland#R. Monotypic.