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Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Tryngites subruficollisOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper Portrait
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General

Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with buff wash over entire body except for white vent. Upperparts are black-spotted and streaked, while underparts are slightly scaled. Shows white wing linings in flight. Also has white eye-ring and black bill. Legs are yellow. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has paler underparts.

Range and Habitat

Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Breeds in Alaska and western Canadian Arctic, migrating through the midwest and occurring rarely on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts. Preferred habitats include grasslands and prairies, plowed fields, turf farms, wet rice fields; nests on Arctic tundra.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"pr-r-r-reet"

Interesting Facts

  • The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is sometimes referred to as a "grasspiper," because of its preference for grassy areas over the coastal mudflats favored by most shorebirds.
  • During the late 1800s and early 1900s, this was an abundant shorebird, with population estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. By the 1920s widespread market hunting had decimated their numbers, resulting in near extinction.
  • They are the only species of North American shorebird that exhibits a lek mating system, in which males defend territories for the sole purpose of performing displays to attract females; females do not receive any resources from males, nor do males aid in parental care in any way.
  • A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Buff-breasted Sandpiper
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Family
Species Tryngites subruficollis
Length7.5 - 8.5 Inches
Wingspan16.5 Inches

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper, buff wash over entire body except for white vent. Upperparts are black-spotted and streaked, underparts are slightly scaled. Shows white wing linings in flight. Has white eye-ring and black bill. Legs are yellow. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Song: "pr-r-r-reet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Diet includes insects, spiders, and seeds. Usually forages on the ground in grassy fields; rarely forages beside water.

● Breeding & nesting: Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Four white, buff, or olive eggs with brown blotches are laid on the ground in a small cup of vegetation lined with grass or moss. Incubation ranges from 19 to 21 days and is carried out by the female; young fly at about 21 days old.

● Similar species: Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Upland Sandpiper and juvenile Ruff have marked underparts and lack white wing linings in flight.

Flight Pattern

Swift flight with rapid wing beats.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Breeds in Alaska and western Canadian Arctic, migrating through the midwest and occurring rarely on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts. Preferred habitats include grasslands and prairies, plowed fields, turf farms, wet rice fields; nests on Arctic tundra.
BreedingPromiscuous
PopulationUncommon to fairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight2.5 Ounces