Studying sandpipers was an interesting experience for me such as: the Spotted Sandpiper is the only sandpiper nesting throughout Ontario; the majority of sandpipers only migrate through our area but nest in the far north; and it is the only sandpiper that nests in the U.S. This is the best-known of all American freshwater shorebirds.
An unusual and endless habit is their bobbing the rear body up and down. When flushed from a pond it is easily identified by its short bursts of rapidly vibrating wing beats, alternating with brief glides.
ID: Breeding plumage olive-brown above, with greenish sheen, many dark, round spots below. Bill pinkish-orange with darker tip.
Size: 7 ½ “/18-20cm. Robin-sized.
Voice: peet-weet, soft trill.
Habitat: almost any place near water. Shorelines, gravel beaches, ponds, marshes, swamps, lagoons, wetlands, rivers and streams. Occasionally in fields.
Nesting: in a slight depression on the ground, using grass or moss. Four buff, brown spotted eggs. Usually near water, concealed under vegetation. Unusual nesting behaviour, polyandry, female defends territory and mates with more than one male. Male almost exclusively incubates and raises young.
In Flight: flies close to the water’s surface with very rapid, shallow arced wing beats; white stripe visible on dark wings with white auxillars.
Status: Widespread breeder, common from late April to late September.
Feeding: picks and gleans along shorelines for terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates such as flies, worms, fish and beetles. Catches flying insects mid-air.
Winters: southern USA to northern Argentina.
Conservation: thought to be decreasing by some.
Resources: Birds of Ontario, Stokes, Petersen, Audubon and Alberta Field Guides.