Least Sandpiper – Small Waders – 7/30/2012 to 8/5/2018

The Least Sandpipers were photographed at Vernon and Horicon Marshes in Wisconsin.

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Buff-Breasted Sandpiper Bird – Smaller Waders – 8/28/2016

The Buff-Breasted Sandpiper was photographed at the Wind Lake Grass Farm in Union Grove, Wisconsin.

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The Buff-Breasted Sandpiper is brown above and buff below with a short bill, light eye-ring, and yellowish legs. It has a breeding range of northwestern American Arctic. It has a habitat on mainly dry short grass prairies and tundra ridges. This is an odd setting for shorebirds. It feeds on mostly insects.

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Whimbrel Bird – Small Waders – 9/3/2014

The Whimbrel was photographed at Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan

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The Whimbrel is a large gray-brown wader with a long decurved bill, striped head, and gray legs. It has a range of the Arctic circumpolar and can be found on the United States coasts in the winter. It has a habitat of shores, mud flats, marshes, prairies, and tundra. Its diet includes insects, crustaceans, and berries. It feeds more by picking, less by probing.

 

Upland Sandpiper Bird – Small Waders – 6/25/2014

The Upland Sandpiper was photographed on the farm road going to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota

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The Upland Sandpiper is a “pigeon-headed” brown sandpiper with a small head, short bill, thin neck, long tail, and shoe-button eye. It often perches on fence posts and poles and holds wings elevated. It has a range of mostly Canada and northern United States. It has a habitat of dry grassy prairies, open meadows, and fields. It is almost never seen on mud flats or other typical shorebird habitats. It has a diet of mostly insects and seeds.

 

Spotted Sandpiper Bird – Small Waders – 5/17/2012

The Spotted Sandpiper was photographed at the Wehr Nature Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

During fall and winter, and when not breeding, the Spotted Sandpiper does not have spots on the breast.

 

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The Spotted Sandpiper is olive-brown above with a spotted white breast, a white line above the eye with a white ring, and a white wedge shape near the shoulder. It has pale fleshy legs. As it walks on shores of streams, ponds, and marshes, it bobs the rear half of its body up and down in an odd teetering motion. It has a range from Alaska, Canada, to the central United States, and along, and along the coasts. It has a diet of insects, crustaceans, small fish, and other invertebrates.

 

Pectoral Sandpiper Bird – Small Waders – 7/30/2012

The Pectoral Sandpiper was photographed at the Vernon Marsh in Mukwonago, Wisconsin

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The Pectoral Sandpiper has a dark back lined in white with heavy breast streaks that end abruptly to white. The legs and bill are a dull yellowish green. Pectoral refers to an inflatable air sac on the male’s chest that can be puffed out. The range is the Siberian and American Artic and winters in South America. Its habitat is green grassy marshes, prairie pools, muddy shores, and fresh and tidal marshes. The diet is mostly insects.

 

Purple Sandpiper Bird – Smaller Waders – 12/31/2011

The Purple Sandpiper, being a rarity to the Great Lakes, brought out the bird watchers to see them at north of Bradford Beach, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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The Purple Sandpiper is a dumpy slate-gray colored bird with a white belly and eye ring, and short yellow legs. It is a rarity to the Great Lakes, so many bird watchers were out to get a first hand life view. Its normal range is the arctic, and winters along the coasts of the North Atlantic-further north than any other shorebird. Its habitat is wave washed rocks, jetties and eats mostly insects and mollusks. I was walking up the Bradford Beach when I came to a log to step over. The shells on the beached seemed to move. Looking closely, this small dumpy bird was seen darting around while the Gulls and Mallards were sitting.