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Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) — photo 1 of 6
© peterichman CC BY-SA 2.0

Sandpipers · Shorebirds

Green Sandpiper

Tringa ochropus

Year-round

Voice

Call

Joost van Bruggen

0:06

Alarm

Jochem verweij

0:22

Song

Grégoire Chauvot

2:00

How to recognize it

  • 21–24 cm, a bit bigger than a starling

  • Dark greenish-brown wings with small pale dots

  • Grey head and breast, white underparts

  • In flight, brilliant white rump and dark wings

About the species

Green Sandpiper keeps close to water and moves with a quick, restless manner, often dipping its tail as it feeds. In flight, the dark wings and white rump make it easier to follow, and its call is a soft “twin” or a short three-note whistle.

It often feeds alone at the edges of ponds, pools, and other small waters, picking up insects, crustaceans, and small fish. Unlike most waders, it nests in old tree nests left by other species, and it also spends time perched in trees.

It breeds in coniferous forest and wet woodland across northern Europe and into Siberia. Outside the breeding season, it moves to warmer parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia, and it can turn up at very small waters during migration.

Where to find

  • Along muddy pond edges or canal banks — Green Sandpiper walks the shallows and gives that soft, single-note call while feeding.

  • At small urban water bodies with little disturbance — easiest to notice at dusk, picking along the shoreline mud.

  • In mature parks with old trees and wet hollows — it may suddenly perch on a branch above the water and flick its tail.

  • By reed-fringed, boggy corners of city greenspace — look for a lone Green Sandpiper working the edge between stems and open water.

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Sources