# 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.

- **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.

## About

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 .

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/b24f7eeb-0fbd-4fb5-803f-dfd3e3c4c7bc
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/3978
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actitis hypoleucos
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/59334374/medium.jpg (Imran Shah, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.