8

Common Sandpiper

(Tringa [Actitis] hypoleucos)
Size: 19-21 cm

Habitat
(for details refer to a field guide)

Common Sandpipers migrate from the north around the entire coastal fringe of Australia. They settle mostly in the western part of the tropical north of the NT, along the Australian west coast and in southern SA, VIC and the south coast of NSW; also found along the coastline of Tasmania. After substantial rainfall they will venture further into the semi-arid interior - basically anywhere except the driest part of the continent, from about the Nullarbor to south of the Kimberleys.

Common Sandpipers are usually found along beaches, but also along riverbanks.

Sightings

We have not yet spotted Common Sandpipers in Australia, but have seen them in Oman. To go to the Omani page, click here.

Photos

No photos from Australia available yet. To go to the Omani page, click here.

Behaviour

Common Sandpipers are well-known for bobbing their tails. This proved to be a major loss of potentially good photos during the course of our observations...

Food

We have seen Common Sandpipers take flies from the fringes of water courses, where they had sat down to drink water (see here).

These pages are largely based on our own observations. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.