A Very Widespread Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius
On my recent trip to Costa Rica I only saw one species of shorebird. It was the Spotted Sandpiper. Many species of shorebirds pass through the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica during fall migration, but most of these pass between the middle of August and the end of October. I was there from August 1-10, just a few days too early to see any of these migrants.
This is the eBird range map of observations during June and July, essentially the breeding season.
Spotted Sandpipers breed widely throughout the western hemisphere as you can see on the eBird range map. It seemed strange to see this familiar breeding sandpiper I see in the Puget Sound area also behaving in the same way thousands of miles south of where I usually see it. This bird is in basic plumage, and I suspect that they breed earlier and molt earlier down there.
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Very very similar to The common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) :) Does he also shake his tail?
Yes. It is very similar. It does bob its tail incessantly. I saw Common Sandpiper in Kenya a few years ago, and it is quite similar.
We see this bird here as well the whole year round, but mainly in spring and autumn when they migrate. It's one of the most reported birds in Suriname. It's amazing that they travel such vast distances, all the way from Chile and Argentina to Alaska.
I believe that they are relatively short distance migrants, with the more northern birds wintering in more northern areas, and the more southern birds going yet farther south, but I could be wrong in this belief. They breed over a very broad area.
This little birdie is beautiful
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mindblowing photography:)bird looking sooo beautiful
Shorebird looks beautiful. also your post nice
Great documentary and perfect shot... Kudos
Pretty bird 🙂this is a western bird?
Largely western hemisphere. All over North and much of South America. See the range map.
Great capture & light.❤
How cute is that? So very nice! Thank you!