Solitary Sandpiper

The Solitary Sandpiper breeds throughout the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. They are long-distance migrants that like to breed in the warmer tropic of Mexico, Central America, and South America. However, perhaps curious for most shorebirds, they are true to their name and are almost always alone.

About Solitary Sandpipers

Solitary Sandpipers are extremely elusive and are some of the least understood shorebirds on the continent. Certain habits that they practice, such as their bobbing bodies and trembling tails, have implied that this is a common pattern that is unique among North American shorebirds. Solitary Sandpipers are remarkably mysterious, often offering more questions than answers as compared to other birds. Today, we will be talking about these relatively unknown birds.

● Solitary Sandpiper Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Solitary Sandpiper Size, Eating Behavior, Habitat
● Solitary Sandpiper Range and Migration, Nesting

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Solitary Sandpiper Color Pattern

Solitary Sandpipers are small, fairly dark shorebirds with olive-brown upperparts that are finely spotted with whitish-buff to cinnamon-white. They have a white throat and belly, along with a distinctive white ring that encircles their eyes. Their rump and central rectrices are dark, contrasting heavily with their dark-barred white outer rectrices. The feathers under their wings contrast with their white belly when they are in flight. Both sexes look similar to each other, exhibiting no sexual dimorphism in appearance. Juveniles look similar to adults but have upperparts that are slightly warmer brown in comparison. They also display pale spots that are large and have a rich-buff to cinnamon-buff shade to them instead of white.

Description and Identification

Most birders see Solitary Sandpipers during migration, with time periods that they are most frequently found being in May and August, almost never in June. You can spot them in quiet freshwater wetlands and swamps. Other good places to look include streams, ditches, flooded fields, meadows, marshes, and large rain puddles. The high-pitch whistles sometimes travel distances. It gives them away rather easily when an observer sources the sound back to the point of origin.

Solitary Sandpiper Song

Solitary Sandpipers have a decent vocal array, with significant varieties that are not too complex. Scientists have observed two types of songs and five types of calls with no individual variation ever recorded. The first type of song sounds like a series of short, high-pitch whistles that suddenly increase in frequency in the middle. In contrast to that, the second type of song sounds like a series of whistles that are high-pitch, short, and rapidly ascending in tone.

They also have a variety of calls that make use of similar-sounding vocal elements. Their chatter call is a sequence of noisy and rhythmic calls, while their other call is a long whistle that can pierce through their surroundings and travel long distances. They also have an alarm-flee call that is a set of sharply ascending calls that have an extremely noisy start to them. You can also hear a mute ticking sound that resembles a “pit pit pit”. These birds also give out a 3 note “wheet wheet wheet” when they are flushed from bushes. They occasionally make an unusual “kikikiki” sound on their wintering grounds. They also make a gentle, soft “pip” or “weet” when they are not disturbed. Chicks give out six different types of calls. They make all of the calls 17 days after hatching.

Solitary Sandpiper Size

Solitary Sandpipers are small and slender shorebirds with a body length of 7.5–9.1 inches and an approximate weight of 1.1–2.3 ounces. They have a longish neck and a long bill, along with fairly long wings that have a wingspan of 21.6–22.4 inches. Their legs are also rather long. These proportions make them slightly larger than Spotted Sandpipers but
smaller than Lesser Yellowlegs.

Solitary Sandpiper Behavior

Solitary Sandpipers walkabout actively but slowly while foraging, usually in shallow water while constantly nodding their head. They sometimes wade in water up to the belly as well. Solitary Sandpipers also fly straight up after being flushed, but their flight is graceful and strong. They also generally only fly for short distances.

Breeding males are also rather territorial on their breeding grounds, with males defending large territories and warding away intruders with exaggerated postures that include the lowering of the head and the raising of wings repeatedly. Eventually, the fight may escalate to physical encounters where each bird pecks down at its opponent. Males respond to threatening males by either retreating or attacking. They don’t automatically flee when people are nearby, or even when guns are fired. This is most likely because of limited contact with humans, which forms the basis of their apparent lack of fear.

Courtship displays consist of males spreading their wings in a similar fashion to their aggressive displays, before rising a few feet into the air and rapidly beating or quivering their wings. They also spread their tail so that the outermost feathers are clearly visible. These displays are generally accompanied by their twittering whistles. Interested females either stand still or walk slowly as males approach her from the back. The duration of their bonds is unfortunately unknown due to lack of useable data, but they are most likely monogamous like other shorebirds. These birds are also not very social, choosing to either stay by themselves or in groups of 3 to 4, making them rather distinct from other Sandpipers.

Solitary Sandpiper Diet

Solitary Sandpipers are mainly insectivores that hunt insects, crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians, and other prey by walking along muddy shores or in shallow water. They hunt by sight, seizing prey with their bill and rarely probing into the mud, unlike many other Sandpipers. Solitary Sandpipers sometimes immerse one foot in the water and vibrate it, which causes prey to move towards them. They often hunt within wet leaf litter for terrestrial invertebrates and occasionally glean insects from vegetation in dry environments as well. Common prey items include mosquito larvae, midges, grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, hellgrammites, caddisfly larvae, small flies, and water boatmen. They also eat dragonfly nymphs, worms, and larger prey such as small clams, crayfish, snails, small fish (shiners), tadpoles, salamanders, and small frogs.

Solitary Sandpiper Habitat

Solitary Sandpipers nest by freshwater lakes, ponds, and creeks in areas of muskeg bogs and spruce trees. Migrants also have a penchant for turning up in an astonishing variety of settings. They are rarely seen on mudflats or saltmarshes with other shorebirds, but they will put down in almost any puddle in any setting, from inner-city to the forest interior. Solitary Sandpipers often stop at lakes, ponds, or streams similar to their nesting habitat, especially where there are extensive muddy margins. They also appear in ditches, stagnant pools, cow pastures, rain pools, freshwater swamps, flooded sod farms or sports fields, bogs, rice fields, and even in wooded wetlands at higher elevations. In the tropics, where most spend the winter, they also use freshwater environments, especially ponds and puddles bordered by shrubs, rivers, and streams with muddy or sandy margins, mats of floating vegetation, and marshy fields with small pools. You can find them at high elevations, up to about 4,000 feet above sea level.

Range and Migration

These birds breed in the woodlands across Alaska and Canada. Their migratory routes take them towards the tropics of Central and South America. They seem to especially prefer the Amazon River basin and the Caribbean. Rare cases of vagrancy in western Europe occur between summer and autumn. They are long-distance migrants that are impressive due to their sheer tenacity for traveling thousands of miles each year.

Solitary Sandpiper Lifecycle

These birds have a single brood each season, with a brood having a clutch size of 3–5 olive to buff eggs. Unfortunately, details about how incubation is carried out are unknown, but the period lasts for 23–24 days. The young ones are able to leave the nest as soon as their down dries, and they are fully capable of feeding themselves. How long the parents stick around is unknown. The age at which they first learn to fly is also unknown.

Nesting

These birds do not make their own nests. Instead, they use old nests of songbirds in trees, namely those of American Robins, Rusty Blackbirds, Canada Jays, and Cedar Waxwings. These nests are placed near the trunks of small trees a few yards above the ground, but they may be higher as well. Males are responsible for identifying a few old nests that may be reused, but the females mostly make the final selection. They then modify the nest by removing the old lining and relining it with fresh vegetation.

Anatomy of a Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpipers are small and slender shorebirds with a body length of 7.5–9.1 inches and an approximate weight of 1.1–2.3 ounces. They have a longish neck and a long bill, along with fairly long wings that have a wingspan of 21.6–22.4 inches. Their legs are also rather long. These proportions make them slightly larger than Spotted Sandpipers but
smaller than Lesser Yellowlegs.

Final Thoughts

Solitary Sandpipers are common, but trends for this arctic-breeding species are hard to track due to their elusive personalities. Lack of data, however, has indicated that it is a species of low conservation concern. Unlike more social and amiable shorebird species in the Americas, Solitary Sandpiper is not targeted by hunters in the Caribbean or South America. The greatest threat to this species is probably from the destruction and degradation of habitat, both on the breeding grounds and wintering grounds.

These birds are extremely understudied, giving us very little to work with if we want to have a better idea of them. With each answer we glean from the data that is gathered, more questions arise, leaving us with a never-ending loophole of mysteries. However, these mysteries are what make birding so beautiful. When there are things that we do not know or understand, it adds more flavour to our endeavours and helps us appreciate our object of study all the more. What are some of your favorite mysteries? Think it through and begin your own personal endeavour of a never-ending journey of constant learning and fulfilment!

Ornithology

Bird Watching Academy & Camp Subscription Boxes

At the Bird Watching Academy & Camp we help kids, youth, and adults get excited and involved in bird watching. We have several monthly subscription boxes that you can subscribe to. Our monthly subscription boxes help kids, youth, and adults learn about birds, bird watching, and bird conservation.

Bird Watching Binoculars for IdentifyingSolitary Sandpipers

The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Solitary Sandpipers are 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. Bird Watching Academy & Camp sells really nice 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. You can view and purchase them here.

Solitary Sandpiper Stickers

Stickers are a great way for you to display your love for bird watching and the Solitary Sandpiper. We sell a monthly subscription sticker pack. The sticker packs have 12 bird stickers. These sticker packs will help your kids learn new birds every month.

Bird Feeders ForSolitary Sandpipers

There are many types of bird feeders. Bird feeders are a great addition to your backyard. Bird feeders will increase the chances of attracting birds drastically. Both kids and adults will have a great time watching birds eat at these bird feeders. There are a wide variety of bird feeders on the market and it is important to find the best fit for you and your backyard.

Bird HousesForSolitary Sandpipers

There are many types of bird houses. Building a bird house is always fun but can be frustrating. Getting a bird house for kids to watch birds grow is always fun. If you spend a little extra money on bird houses, it will be well worth every penny and they’ll look great.

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