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Green Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Tringa ochropus

Identify the Green Sandpiper by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Green Sandpiper is a compact, dark-backed wader of forested wetlands across subarctic Europe and Asia. It has dark greenish-brown upperparts finely spotted with white, a greyish breast and clean white underparts, and in flight a brilliant white rump flashes against dark wings. Unusually for a wader, it nests in trees, in old thrush nests. It winters from southern Europe to Africa and Southeast Asia.

Did you know?

  • Unlike most waders, it nests in trees in old thrush nests.
  • Its closest relative is the American Solitary Sandpiper.

Voice

Call
Flight call
Alarm call

About the species

Identification

A wader resembling Wood Sandpiper, but its back is clearly darker, almost black with small white spots. The bright white rump contrasts sharply with the dark back and wings, and the underwing is dark; the legs are greyish-green. The call is a loud, melodic “tluee-weet-weet”. It differs from Wood Sandpiper in its darker back, dark underwing and clearer white rump.

Family

Scolopacidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

brown, white, black, green

About the habitat

Forest mires, swampy spruce woods and small lakes, ponds and streams; on migration small, often enclosed wetlands, ditches and wet shore meadows.

Diet

Mainly insects, snails and worms picked from mud and shallow water along the edges of pools and streams.

Behaviour

Usually seen singly or in small numbers, foraging along the edges of small ponds, streams and ditches with a nervous, bobbing manner. When flushed it flies up steeply, calling a ringing “tluee-weet-weet”. It sings a rising and falling song in display flight. It nests in old thrush or squirrel nests high in trees, laying four eggs in May; the chicks leap from the nest soon after hatching, and the male does most of the chick care.

Sources

Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tringa ochropus 1 (Marek Szczepanek).jpg

Sound: Pascal Christe, XC741946, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/741946

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC707052, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/707052

Sound: Jochem verweij, XC791817, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/791817

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_sandpiper

See also