Baird's Sandpiper Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small shorebird with very long wings. The wingtips extend well past the tail tip. The legs are rather long and bill is fairly long for its size.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Semipalmated Sandpiper, smaller than a Dunlin.

  between sparrow and robin

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 5.5-7.1 in (14-18 cm)
    • Weight: 0.9-2.2 oz (27-63 g)
    • Wingspan: 13.8-15.0 in (35-38 cm)

  © Dorian Anderson / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Adults are mottled with warm brown and black above, white below, with a warm brown, streaky breast. Juveniles are similar but more scaly-looking on the upperparts because of neat buffy edges to blackish feathers.

• Behavior

  Forages by walking briskly and picking up small prey from the ground or from low vegetation, less often by probing into sand or mud.
• Habitat

  Nests in dry, upland high Arctic tundra habitats where vegetation is sparse and low. Migrants use prairies, grasslands, rain pools, muddy edges of lakes and rivers, and many other habitat types, both dry and moist. Winters up to 15,000 feet elevation, around drying lakes and in shortgrass environments.