Semipalmated Sandpiper

Overview

Semipalmated Sandpiper: Small sandpiper with scaled gray-brown upperparts, white underparts, and fine streaks on the breast and sides. The black bill is short, stout and straight. Feeds on insects, worms, small mollusks and crustaceans. Legs and feet are black. Swift flight on rapidly beating wings.

Range and Habitat

Semipalmated Sandpiper: Breeds in lower Arctic regions from western Alaska to Labrador. Migrates through the interior and along the Atlantic coast to reach its wintering grounds, which extend from the southern U.S. to South America. Preferred habitats include shorelines and mudflats.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Semipalmated Sandpiper is perhaps the most numerous shorebird in North America, sometimes occurring by the thousands during migration.
The word "semipalmated," referring to the birds' toes, means "half-webbed." Actually the toes are only slightly lobed at their bases, but they do help the birds to walk on mud without sinking.
They are often found on mudflats feeding together with their close relatives, the Least and Western sandpipers.
A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper has a large range, estimated globally at 2,600,000 square kilometers. Native to the Americas and nearby island nations, this bird prefers grassland, wetland, or marine ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 3,500,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Semipalmated Sandpiper is Least Concern.