Green Sandpiper

Overview

Green Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper with pale-spotted, dark gray-brown back and rump, white underparts with dark streaks on neck, upper breast, sides. Head is dark and eye-ring is white. Tail is white with fine dark spotting at tip. Bill, legs, feet are olive-green. Swift flight with rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Green Sandpiper: Breeds in northern forests across Europe and Asia, winters around small bodies of water across a broad geographic area from Africa to Southeast Asia. Very rarely shows up in spring on the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Green Sandpiper was first described by Linnaeus in 1758.
Unlike most other birds in its family, it will nest in trees.
It is also known to adopt old nests from other species, such as the Fieldfare.
A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.

The Green Sandpiper has a large range, estimated at 10,000,000 square kilometers globally. It is native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, and has been spotted in the United States and Australia as well. This bird prefers freshwater ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, and inland wetlands, though it has been known to reside in pasture land, rural gardens, and even wastewater treatment areas or canals. The estimated global population of the bird is between 1,200,000 and 4,000,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. Because of this, the current evaluation status of the Green Sandpiper is Least Concern.