View source for Common sandpiper

{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Actitis hypoleucos - Laem Pak Bia.jpg
| image_caption = Adult, [[Laem Pak Bia]], [[Thailand]]<br />
[[File:Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) (W1CDR0001405 BD3).ogg|thumb|center|Bird recorded in Scotland]]
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |title=''Actitis hypoleucos'' |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |article-number=e.T22693264A86678952 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22693264A86678952.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| taxon = Actitis hypoleucos
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| synonyms = 
''Tringa hypoleucos'' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]</small>
| range_map = ActitisHypoleucosIUCNver2018 2.png
| range_map_caption = Range{{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#00FFFF|Passage|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#FF00FF|Possibly extant (non-breeding)|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#AAFFFF|Possibly extant (passage)|outline=gray}}
}}
[[File:Foeragerende oeverloper-4961816.webm|thumb|alt=Video of individual bird foraging in water by stabbing with its beak near muddy bank with seashells, then of bird preening itself in shoreside vegetation, then of bird feeding in shallow water|''Actitis hypoleucos'']]
The '''common sandpiper''' ('''''Actitis hypoleucos''''') is a small [[Palearctic]] [[wader]]. This bird and its [[Americas|American]] [[sister species]], the [[spotted sandpiper]] (''A. macularia''), make up the [[genus]] ''[[Actitis]]''. They are [[parapatric]] and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and [[Hybrid (biology)|hybridize]]. Hybridization has also been [[Hybridisation in shorebirds#Other hybrid scolopacids|reported]] between the common sandpiper and the [[green sandpiper]], a [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] species of the closely related genus ''[[Tringa]]''.

== Taxonomy ==
The common sandpiper was [[Species description|formally described]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758 in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Tringa hypoleucos''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=C. |author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis |volume=((Volume 1)) |edition=Tenth |page=149 |publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) |language=Latin |chapter=''Tringa hypoleucos'' |chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727056}}</ref> The species is now placed together with the [[spotted sandpiper]] in the [[genus]] ''[[Actitis]]'' that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist [[Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Illiger | first=J.K.W. |author-link=Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger |year=1811 |title=Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium |language=Latin |location=Berolini [Berlin] |publisher=Sumptibus C. Salfeld |page=262 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29301232}}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web |editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=F. | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) |editor2-last=Donsker |editor2-first=D. |editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=P. | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen |date=2021 | title=Sandpipers, snipes, coursers |work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sandpipers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=22 November 2021}}</ref> The genus name ''Actitis'' is from [[Ancient Greek]] ''aktites'' meaning "coast-dweller" from ''akte'' meaning "coast". The specific epithet ''hypoleucos'' combines the Ancient Greek ''hupo'' meaning "beneath" with ''leukos'' meaning "white".<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= J.A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |  pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n31 31], [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n199 199]}}</ref> The species is [[monotypic]] and no [[subspecies]] are recognised.<ref name=ioc/>

==Description==
The adult is {{convert|18|–|20|cm|in|abbr=on}} long with a {{convert|32|–|35|cm|in|abbr=on}} wingspan. It has greyish-brown upperparts, white underparts, short dark-yellowish legs and feet, and a bill with a pale base and dark tip. In winter plumage, they are duller and have more conspicuous barring on the wings, though this is still only visible at close range. Juveniles are more heavily barred above and have buff edges to the wing feathers.<ref name=Hayman>{{cite book |last1=Hayman |first1=P. |last2=Marchant |first2=J. |last3=Prater |first3=T. |year=1986 |title=Shorebirds: an Identification Guide to the Waders of the World |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |isbn=0-395-60237-8}}</ref>

This species is very similar to the slightly larger [[spotted sandpiper]] (''A. macularia'') in non-breeding plumage. But its darker legs and feet and the crisper wing pattern (visible in flight) tend to give it away, and of course they are only rarely found in the same location.<ref name=Hayman/>

==Distribution and migration==
The common sandpiper breeds across most of [[temperate]] and [[subtropical]] Europe and Asia, and [[bird migration|migrates]] to Africa, southern Asia and [[Australia]] in winter. The eastern edge of its migration route passes by [[Palau]] in [[Micronesia]], where hundreds of birds may gather for a stop-over. They depart the Palau region for their breeding quarters around the last week of April to the first week of May.<ref name=Hayman/><ref name=VanderWerf2006>{{cite journal |last1=VanderWerf |first1=E.A. |last2=Wiles |first2=G.J. |last3=Marshall |first3=A.P. |last4=Knecht |first4=M. |year=2006 |title=Observations of migrants and other birds in Palau, April–May 2005, including the first Micronesian record of a Richard's Pipit |journal=Micronesica |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=11–29 |url=http://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/2_vanderwerf-palau.pdf}}</ref>

==Behaviour and ecology==
The Common Sandpiper is usually encountered alone, occasionally in small groups, although larger flocks are sometimes formed around migration<ref name="ABG">{{cite book |last1=Menkhjorst |first1=Peter |last2=Rogers |first2=Danny |last3=Clarke |first3=Rohan |last4=Davies |first4=Jeff |last5=Marsack |first5=Peter |last6=Franklin |first6=Kim |title=The Australian Bird Guide |date=2020 |publisher=CSIRO |location=Canberra |isbn=978-0-643-09754-4 |edition=Revised}}</ref> or at breeding season roosts. It seldom joins multispecies flocks.<ref name="ABG" /> This species has a distinctive stiff-winged flight, low over the water.
[[File:Actitis hypoleucos MHNT.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Egg]]
[[File:Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) probing mud banks in Kolkata I IMG 4169.jpg|thumb|Wintering bird foraging ''matakakoni''-style in [[Puri]]]]

===Breeding===
It nests on the ground near [[freshwater]]. When threatened, the young may cling to their parent's body to be flown away to safety.<ref name=Hayman/><ref name=Mann1991>{{cite journal |last=Mann |first=C.F. |year=1991 |title=Sunda Frogmouth ''Batrachostomus cornutus'' carrying its young |journal=[[Forktail (journal)|Forktail]] |volume=6 |pages=77–78 |url=http://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Mann-Frogmouth.pdf |access-date=2016-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304203825/http://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Mann-Frogmouth.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref>

===Feeding===
The common sandpiper forages by sight on the ground or in shallow water, picking up small food items such as [[insect]]s, [[crustacean]]s and other [[invertebrate]]s; it may even catch insects in flight.

==Conservation==
It is widespread and common, and therefore classified as a species of [[least concern]] on the [[IUCN Red List]] but is a vulnerable species in some states of Australia.<ref name=iucn /> The common sandpiper is one of the species to which the ''[[Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds]]'' (AEWA) applies.<ref>{{cite web | title=Species| url=https://www.unep-aewa.org/en/species | publisher=Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) | access-date=14 November 2021}}</ref>

==Relationship to humans==
In the Nukumanu language of the [[Nukumanu Islands]] ([[Papua New Guinea]]), this species is usually called '''''tiritavoi'''''. Another Nukumanu name for it, '''''matakakoni''''', exists, but this is considered somewhat [[taboo]] and not used when children and women are around. The reason for this is that ''matakakoni'' means "bird that walks a little, then copulates", in reference to the pumping tail and thrusting head movements the ''Actitis'' species characteristically perform during foraging.<ref name=Hayman/><ref name=Haddon2004>{{cite journal |last=Hadden |first=D.W. |year=2004 |title=Birds of the northern atolls of the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea |journal=Notornis |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=91–102 |url=http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_51_2_91.pdf |access-date=2016-02-20 |archive-date=2020-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114152801/https://www.notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_51_2_91.pdf }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikispecies|Actitis hypoleucos}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161020125325/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/211_CommonSandpiperAhypoleucos.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 5.5 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]
* [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/264.pdf Common sandpiper species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]
* {{BirdLife|22693264|Actitis hypoleucos}}
* {{Avibase|name=Actitis hypoleucos}}
* {{InternetBirdCollection|common-sandpiper-actitis-hypoleucos}}
* {{VIREO|Common+sandpiper}}
* {{Xeno-canto species|Actitis|hypoleucos|Common sandpiper}}
* {{field guide birds of the world|Actitis hypoleucos}}

{{Scolopacidae|2}}
{{Taxonbar |from=Q18850}}

[[Category:Actitis]]
[[Category:Wading birds]]
[[Category:Birds of Eurasia]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758]]
[[Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]