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To the Beauty of Birds

The Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) is a small shorebird, 7.1–7.9 inches long. The genus name Actitis is from Ancient Greek aktites, "coast-dweller", derived from akte, "coast", and macularius is Latin from macula, "spot".

Together with its sister species the common sandpiper (A. hypoleucos), it makes up the genus Actitis. They replace each other geographically; stray birds may settle down with breeders of the other species and hybridize.

Their breeding habitat is near fresh water across most of Canada and the United States. They migrate to the southern United States, the Caribbean, and South America, and are very rare vagrants to western Europe. These are not gregarious birds and are seldom seen in flocks.

'Record shot' of Spotted Sandpipers at Île Sainte-Hélène in Montreal, Canada, showing diagnostic features such as the all-brown back & tail (i.e. no black, unlike many other sandpipers), white leading and trailing edge to the wings, partial white wingbar, and white edging to tail.

Adults have short yellowish legs and an orange bill with a dark tip. The body is brown on top and white underneath with black spots. Non-breeding birds, depicted below, do not have the spotted underparts, and are very similar to the common sandpiper of Eurasia; the main difference is the more washed-out wing pattern visible in flight and the normally light yellow legs and feet of the spotted sandpiper. The Actitis species have a distinctive stiff-winged flight low over the water.

Spotted Sandpiper

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