Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)

The stints or peeps are small shorebirds that are often observed near water feeding on small crustaceans in the mud. Of around 135 species of shorebirds known, 90% are plovers and sandpipers. The stints share similar appearances -- beaks that are fit to dig and point out the preys in the mud, and brownish upperparts and white underparts. It sometimes is difficult to distinguish from each other especially in winter plumage.

The semipalmated sandpiper has dark legs and a fairly long beak. Its feet are semi-palmated and half webbed.

Winthrop, MA
2010-09-05

These individuals are found on the beach among laughing gulls and other gulls. The plovers (Charandrius sp.) have shorter thick beaks than sandpipers (Calidris sp.).

Other Scolopacidae species:

Acorn Woodpecker• American Coot• American Crow• American Robin• American White Ibis• American White Pelican• Anhinga• Audubon's Warbler• Black Phoebe• Black-Capped Chickadee• Blue Jay• Boat-Tailed Grackle• Brewer's Blackbird• Brown Pelican• Bufflehead• Canada Goose• Chestnut-Backed Chickadee• Collared-Dove• Common Gallinule• Common Goldeneye• Common Grackle• Double-Crested Cormorant• Downy Woodpecker• European Starling• Fox Sparrow• Glossy Ibis• Golden-Crowned Sparrow• Graylag Goose• **Great Blue Heron• Great Egret• Herring Gull• House Sparrow• **Killdeer• Least Bittern• Least Sandpiper• Lesser Goldfinch• Limpkin• Lincoln's Sparrow• Mallard• Mourning Dove• Northern Cardinal• Northern Mockingbird• Oak Titmouse• Osprey• Palm Warbler• Pied-Billed Grebe• Purple Finch• Red-Bellied Woodpecker• Red-Breasted Nuthatch• Red-Winged Blackbird• Ring-Billed Gull• Ringed Plover• Ruby-Crowned Kinglet• Sanderling• Sandhill Crane• Semipalmated Sandpiper• Sharp-Shinned Hawk• Short-Tailed Hawk• Snowy Egret• Song Sparrow• Spotted Towhee• Steller's Jay• Tricolored Heron• Trumpeter Swan• Tufted Titmouse• Turkey Vulture• Western Grebe• Western Gull• Western Meadowlark• Western Scrub Jay• **Western Swamphen• White-Breasted Nuthatch• White-Crowned Sparrow• Wild Turkey• Willet• Wood Stork