Common Sandpiper
Actitis hypoleucos
This bird is famous for its distinctive, near-constant tail-bobbing motion, the exact evolutionary purpose of which remains a scientific mystery.
- Scientific name
- Actitis hypoleucos
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Charadriiformes › Scolopacidae › Actitis
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Gravelly riverbanks, stony lake shores, estuaries, and coastal wetlands.
- Diet
- Insects, spiders, small crustaceans, and mollusks.
- Range
- Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia
- Size
- Wingspan of 38-41 cm, body length of 19-21 cm, weighing about 40-60 grams.
- Lifespan
- 8 to 12 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat degradation, disturbance of breeding sites by recreational activities, and water pollution.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. This bird is easily startled and sensitive to disturbance. Maintain a safe distance of at least 15-20 meters to allow it to forage peacefully. If the bird displays intense tail-bobbing and high-pitched piping, it is stressed; please step back.
The common sandpiper ( Actitis hypoleucos ) is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper ( A. macularia ), 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 basal species of the closely related shank genus Tringa .
Photo: Imran Shah, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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