Family:
Baird’s sandpiper is a medium-sized, long, low set sandpiper with a broad breast, short legs and long wings which extend beyond the tail. In breeding plumage, it has grey and brown scaled upperparts, and white underparts with dark spots on the grey-brown breast. The rump is white with a dark central stripe that extends through the centre of the tail. The face, neck and crown are buff with fine, dark brown streaks. The short, thin bill is dark, and the legs and feet are black.
In non-breeding plumage, it is duller and greyer with fewer markings and a few black spots on the upperparts. Male and female Baird’s sandpiper are similar. It can be difficult to distinguish from other shorebirds which are collectively known as “peeps” or “stints”.
Baird’s sandpipers eat mainly insects, spiders, and small crustaceans. They forage by picking prey from the ground or from short vegetation as they walk, as well as occasionally probing in sand and mud.
Baird’s sandpipers breed in the Arctic tundra from eastern Siberia and Alaska to northwest Greenland. They are found on freshwater marshes, estuaries, riverbanks, lakes, coastal areas, and nearby grasslands.
They are a long-distance migrant, and spend the winters in South America around drying lakes, and habitats with short grasses.
