Least Sandpiper
Calidris minutilla
Also known as: Pond Bird
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
23 g
About This Species
North America's smallest sandpiper favours muddy edges of tidal flats, marshes, and inland pools, where small flocks probe the mud with a distinctive stooped, crouching gait. Its yellowish-green legs and small size help separate it from similar peeps feeding alongside it. Spring and fall migration bring the largest concentrations, when flocks stop to refuel on mudflats and shallow wetlands along their long journeys.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- As a Near Threatened species that depends on stopover habitat to complete its migration, keep a generous distance and avoid walking directly at a feeding flock, since flushed birds burn reserves they cannot easily replace.
- Migratory shorebirds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in the US and under comparable statutes elsewhere on their flyway, with specific rules varying by country and site.
- Where a stopover site posts seasonal closures or buffer zones, treat these as firm limits rather than guidelines.
NTAvesCharadriiformesScolopacidae
Seasonal Activity
2,646,198 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 23 g
Photo
(c) Bill Levine, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Bill Levine
CC-BY-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.