Sandpipers · Shorebirds
Broad-billed Sandpiper
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Calidris falcinellus
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Voice
Call
Alfonso Maffezzoli
How to recognize it
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16–18 cm, smaller than a dunlin
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Long bill, slightly downcurved at the tip
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Two white lengthwise stripes on the head
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Summer plumage dark brown above, white below
About the species
The Broad-billed Sandpiper moves quietly, with short steps through shallow water and soft mud. It is small, with a long bill that bends down at the tip and two pale stripes on the head.
It usually keeps to itself and stays low and hard to notice. While feeding, it probes the mud and picks up prey by sight, and its call is a dry "dree-it" or a clicking "dik dik".
It breeds in wet bogs in the far north and winters along coasts from Africa and the Middle East to Asia and Australasia. Its food includes insects, larvae, and small mollusks.
Where to find
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Along muddy pond edges, canal banks, and shallow inlets — look for slow steps in the water and a bill dipping into the silt every few seconds.
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By reed-fringed, marshy shores with sedges — especially where rain leaves wet strips and puddles.
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On river flats and bare mudbars at low tide — often moving in small, loose flocks with quick little steps.
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At quiet lagoons and soft-edged waterside spots — feeding low at the waterline on exposed mud.
You might also see
Sources
- eBird — Calidris falcinellus Sightings map and full description on eBird
- Wikipedia — Broad-billed sandpiper Encyclopedia article