Sandpiper-like Birds
Spotted Sandpiper
Actitis
macularia
Description
7 1/2" (19 cm). A starling-sized
shorebird that bobs its tail almost constantly. Breeding adults are
brown above, with bold white wing stripe, white below with bold
black spots on breast and belly. Fall birds lack black spots below,
have brownish smudge at sides of breast.
Voice
A clear peet-weet; also a soft
trill.
Habitat
Ponds, streams, and other waterways, both
inland and along the shore.
Nesting
4 buff eggs, spotted with brown, in a
nest lined with grass or moss in a slight depression on the
ground.
Range
Breeds from northern Alaska and Canada
across most of continent to southern United States. Winters along
Pacific Coast south from British Columbia and across southern states
south to South America.
Discussion
This is one of the best known of
American shorebirds. Its habit of endlessly bobbing the rear part of
its body up and down has earned it the vernacular name
"Teeter-tail." When flushed from the margin of a pond or stream, it
is easily identified by its distinctive flight-short bursts of
rapidly vibrating wingbeats alternating with brief glides. Most of
our shorebirds breed in the Far North; this is one of the few that
nests in the United States.
Sandpiper-like Birds