Bird name:

Wood Sandpiper

Tringa glareola

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Code 4

WOSA

Code 6

TRIGLA

ITIS

176618

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Light green to white marked with red brown

Number of Eggs:

3 - 4

Incubation Days:

22 - 23

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Grass stems, leaves.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Wood Sandpiper: Medium-sized, long-legged sandpiper with dark gray-brown upperparts and breast heavily marked with white spots and notches. Underparts are white; legs usually green, but may be yellow and lead to confusion with Lesser Yellowlegs. Underwings pale gray; rump is white with black-barred tail. Sexes are similar. Juvenile resembles adult but has warm brown wash and buff spots on the upperparts.

Range and Habitat

Wood Sandpiper: Breeds across northern Europe and Asia, winters in equatorial areas from Africa to Asia. Found on the Aleutian Islands of Alaska during spring migration, and occasionally lingers to breed. Has been found in British Columbia and northeastern North America.

Breeding and Nesting

Wood Sandpiper: Breeds in northern bogs and flooded forests. Nests built on ground amid dense vegetation or will use old thrush nests in trees. Lays three to four light green to white eggs that are marked with red brown. Both sexes incubate eggs for 22 to 23 days. Female departs soon after chicks hatch, while male tends chicks until they fly at 30 days.

Foraging and Feeding

Wood Sandpiper: Favors swampy freshwater habitats and flooded fields where it strides actively with its distinctive teetering gait searching for a wide variety of insects and other invertebrates. Mainly finds food visually and pecks items from surfaces, but will probe and even submerge its head in water trying to catch prey underwater.

Vocalization

Wood Sandpiper: Loud, sharp series of 3 or more whistles.

Similar Species

Wood Sandpiper: Green Sandpiper has dark wing underwings. Solitary Sandpiper has dark wing linings and dark stripe down center of tail. Lesser Yellowlegs is larger and taller with brighter orange legs and a less obvious eyeline.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America