General

Stilt Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with gray-brown upperparts, white rump, and heavily barred white underparts. Head has a dark cap, white eyebrows, and brown ear patches. Bill is long, black, and curved down at tip. Legs are long and gray-green. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has dull gray upperparts, distinct white eyebrows, and white underparts with faint bars on breast and sides.

Range and Habitat

Stilt Sandpiper: Breeds from northeastern Alaska to northeastern Manitoba and northernmost Ontario. Spends winters in South America and casually north to Florida and southern California. Preferred habitats include sedge meadows interrupted by old beach ridges, eskers, or other elevated areas dominated by dwarf birch, heaths, willows, crowberries, and dryads.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"querp"

Interesting Facts

 Stilt Sandpipers nest as close as 12 feet to other shorebirds, but at least 900 feet from their own kind, probably as a defense against predators.

 Seeds picked from the water or dry ground can make up nearly one-third of the diet, depending upon their availability.

 A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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