Wood Sandpiper

Tringa glareola

The most elegant of the small shore-waders. Migrates from Arctic bogs to African wetlands with your message in tow.

Population: ~3.02–4.62 million mature individuals globally (BirdLife International/IUCN, 2021 estimate)
Habitat: Breeds in open, swampy boreal/subarctic habitat — mossy marshes, wet heathland and scrubby forest bogs (willow, dwarf birch or spruce) between tundra and coniferous forest. On migration and in winter it favors inland freshwater wetlands: lake and pond margins, muddy marshes, flooded grassland, reservoirs and even sewage farms, rarely true coastal habitat.
Fun fact: Before its long migratory flights a Wood Sandpiper can build up fat reserves equal to roughly half its body mass, fueling nonstop journeys of up to about 4,490 km between breeding and wintering grounds.
Range: Breeds across the northern Palearctic from Scotland and Scandinavia through northern Europe and Siberia to the Russian Far East. A long-distance migrant wintering mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and across South and Southeast Asia to southern China, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia, with vagrants recorded in North America, Hawaii and Micronesia.
Diet: Probes shallow water and wet mud for aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates — beetles, true bugs, fly larvae, worms, spiders, small crustaceans and molluscs — and will also take small fish up to about 2 cm, tadpoles and occasionally frogs.
Size: 0.2 m
Wingspan: 0.37 m
Lifespan: 8 years

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