Birdpass
English
Upland Sandpiper

Upland Sandpiper

Bartramia longicauda

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

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The Upland Sandpiper is a slender, long-tailed shorebird of dry grasslands rather than shores. It breeds across the prairies and fields of interior North America and migrates to southern South America for the winter. It has a small, dove-like head on a thin neck and often perches on fence posts, giving a far-carrying, whistled call. It is an exceptional vagrant to Europe.

Did you know?

  • Its genus name honours the naturalist William Bartram.
  • Its whistled call, like a “wolf whistle”, often rings out from high in the air.

Voice

Call

About the species

Identification

A medium-sized wader (26–28 cm) with long yellow legs, a relatively long tail and a fairly short bill on a small, dove-like head with a large dark eye. The upperparts are intricately mottled brown and the underparts pale. The sexes are alike. It is often seen perched conspicuously on posts.

Family

Scolopacidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

brown, white, grey, black

About the habitat

Open grassland – native prairie, pastures, hayfields and airfields; unusually for a sandpiper, it largely avoids coasts.

Diet

Mainly insects and other invertebrates taken by sight in fields – grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, ants, spiders, snails and earthworms – supplemented by some seeds and grain.

Behaviour

Forages by walking through grass and picking prey from the ground or low vegetation. Often stands very upright and perches on posts, poles or even treetops to watch over its territory; on landing it briefly holds its wings raised. It nests on the ground, both parents tend the young and use distraction displays against predators.

Sources

Photo: Johnath, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UplandSandpiperOntarioCropped.jpg

Sound: Jonathon Jongsma, XC104531, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://xeno-canto.org/104531

Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upland_sandpiper

See also