Solitary Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Tringa solitaria
At a Glance
Almost all of our sandpipers migrate in flocks and nest on the ground, but the Solitary Sandpiper breaks both rules. In migration, as its name implies, it is usually encountered alone, along the bank of some shady creek. If approached, it bobs nervously, then flies away with sharp whistled cries. In summer in the northern spruce bogs, rather than nesting on the wet ground, the Solitary Sandpiper lays its eggs in old songbird nests placed high in trees.
All bird guide text and rangemaps adapted from Lives of North American Birds by Kenn Kaufman© 1996, used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Category
Sandpiper-like Birds, Sandpipers
IUCN Status
Least Concern
Habitat
Coasts and Shorelines, Fields, Meadows, and Grasslands, Forests and Woodlands, Freshwater Wetlands, Lakes, Ponds, and Rivers
Region
Alaska and The North, California, Eastern Canada, Florida, Great Lakes, Mid Atlantic, New England, Northwest, Plains, Rocky Mountains, Southeast, Southwest, Texas, Western Canada
Behavior
Direct Flight, Running
Population
190.000
Range & Identification
Migration & Range Maps
A long-distance migrant, wintering mostly in South America, especially around swamps and riverbanks in the Amazon Basin. Apparently migrates mostly alone and at night.
Description
8 1/2" (22 cm). Slender, with thin straight bill. May bob its head when excited. Darker than Spotted Sandpiper, more obvious white eye-ring. In flight, tail shows dark center, white outer edges.
Size
About the size of a Robin
Color
Black, Brown, White
Wing Shape
Long, Pointed, Tapered
Tail Shape
Rounded, Short, Square-tipped, Wedge-shaped
Songs and Calls
A high-pitched peet-weet or peet-weet-weet, more shrill than call of Spotted Sandpiper.
Call Pattern
Flat, Rising
Call Type
Chirp/Chip, Whistle
Habitat
Streamsides, wooded swamps and ponds, fresh marshes. In migration generally along shaded streams and ponds, riverbanks, narrow channels in marshes. Sometimes along the edges of open mudflats, but generally avoids tidal flats and salt marsh. Nests in muskeg region, with bogs and ponds surrounded by forest of spruce and other trees.
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Behavior
Eggs
4, rarely 5. Olive to buff, marked with brown. Incubation details poorly known, may be by both parents, roughly 23-24 days.
Young
Development and behavior of young poorly known. Since parents are not known to feed young, apparently the chicks must jump to the ground; probably tended there by one or both parents. Age of young at first flight not known.
Feeding Behavior
Mostly forages in shallow water, moving about actively, picking items from surface; also probes in water and mud. While walking in water, may pause and quiver one foot, presumably to stir up small creatures from the bottom.
Diet
Insects and other small aquatic creatures. Feeds on many insects of water and shore, including beetles, dragonfly nymphs, grasshoppers; also crustaceans, spiders, worms, mollusks, occasionally small frogs.
Nesting
Breeding behavior not well known. In breeding season, male gives repeated call while perching on tops of trees, or while performing display flight over nesting territory. Nest: Uses nests built by songbirds such as American Robin, Rusty Blackbird, Bohemian Waxwing, Eastern Kingbird, Gray Jay. Nest chosen is usually in spruce or other conifer, sometimes in deciduous tree, 4-40' above ground. Sandpipers may sometimes take over a freshly-built nest. Female may add lining material to original nest.
Climate Vulnerability
Conservation Status
Population very difficult to census, because birds are so dispersed at all seasons, but no obvious decline in numbers.
Climate Threats Facing the Solitary Sandpiper
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.