Semipalmated Sandpiper Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A very small, plump shorebird with a thin, straight, tubular bill. When folded, the wings are about the same length as the tail. The bill usually does not droop or turn downwards at the tip.

  Relative Size

  Smaller than a Dunlin, slightly larger than a Least Sandpiper.

  between sparrow and robin

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 5.9-7.1 in (15-18 cm)
    • Weight: 0.6-1.8 oz (18-51.5 g)
    • Wingspan: 13.8-14.6 in (35-37 cm)

  © Jonathan Eckerson / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Breeding adults are dappled in brown, black, gold, and rufous above, with pale underparts and dark legs. The head, nape, and breast are stippled or streaked with brown, but the flanks are white. Nonbreeding adults are much plainer, mousy grayish brown above, pale below, with weak supercilium (pale line over eye). Juveniles are similar to nonbreeding adult but the upperparts show a neat, scaly pattern.

• Behavior

  Semipalmated Sandpipers walk slowly through mudflats and wetlands, rapidly and continuously pecking or probing for tiny invertebrate prey. They can occur in large flocks; dominant birds often chase or peck at others that approach too closely.
• Habitat

  Breeds on arctic tundra; forages in mudflats, wet and plowed agricultural fields, river margins, sewage ponds, and estuaries.