Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae Genus: Tringa Species: solitaria
Binomial name
Tringa solitaria

The Solitary Sandpiper, Tringa solitaria, is a small wader. It breeds in woodlands across subarctic North America It is a migratory bird, wintering in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

This is not a gregarious species, although sometimes small numbers congregate in suitable feeding areas. The Solitary Sandpiper is very much a bird of fresh water, and is often found in sites, such as ditches, too restricted for other waders, which tend to like a clear all-round view.

This species is a dumpy wader with a dark green back, greyish head and breast and otherwise white underparts. It is obvious in flight, with wings dark above and below, and a dark rump and tail centre. The latter feature distinguishes it from the slightly larger and broader-winged, but otherwise very similar, Green Sandpiper of Europe and Asia, to which it is closely related. The latter species has a brilliant white rump. In flight, the Solitary Sandpiper has a characteristic three-note whistle.

The Solitary Sandpiper lays 3-5 eggs in an old tree nest of another species, such as a thrush.

Food is small invertebrates picked off the mud as this species works steadily around the edges of its chosen pond.