Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper, breeding male on territory giving scold vocalization. Nome, Alaska. June.

About the photographs

About the map

Play sound from this species

Worn, molting adult Semipalmated Sandpiper, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens, NY. September.

Foraging juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper, Jamaica Bay, NY. September.

Juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper, Jamaica Bay, NY. September.

Newly hatched Semipalmated Sandpiper, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo by D. Plummer.

Typical deeper-water foraging behavior of the Semipalmated Sandpiper. Probing, tactile feeding. Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge, New York.

Semipalmated Sandpiper clutch collected Port Manvers, Labrador, June 1912; from collections of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL. Photo by P. Lowther.

Semipalmated Sandpiper egg collected Port Manvers, Labrador, June 1912; from collections of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL. (scale shown in cm.) Photo by P. Lowther.

Menu

1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

An abundant small shorebird, the Semipalmated Sandpiper breeds in the Arctic and winters along the coasts of South America.

Description

Small sandpiper. Short neck. Moderately long bill, may droop slightly at tip. Moderately long legs. Black center of rump and tail. Legs black. Back gray-brown. Chest usually only lightly marked. Short webbing between toes (hard to see).

• Size: 13-15 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 29-30 cm (11-12 in)
• Weight: 21-32 g (0.74-1.13 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike, female slightly larger and with longer bill.

Sound

Call a loud "cherk."

Conservation Status

Common.

Other Names

Bécasseau semipalmé (Spanish)
Correlimos semipalmeado (English)

Cool Facts

• Semipalmated Sandpipers from eastern populations probably undertake nonstop transoceanic flights of 3,000 - 4,000 km (1,900 - 2,500 mi) from New England and southern Canada to South America, powered by extensive fat reserves.

• The Semipalmated Sandpiper gets its common name from the short webs between its toes ("palmated" means webbed). The Western Sandpiper is the only other small shorebird with similarly webbed toes.

Sources used to construct this page:

Gratto-Trevor, C. L. 1992. Semipalmated Sandpiper. In The Birds of North America, No. 6 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists? Union.