It also has dull greenish legs as compared to more yellowish of a wood sandpiper. When threatened, the young may cling to their parent's body to be flown away to safety.[4][7]. The men have a display flight. Common sandpipers are green-brown above, with a bright white belly. In flight, common sandpipers have a stiff-winged style and typically stay close to the water or ground. They depart the Palau region for their breeding quarters around the last week of April to the first week of May. They display a brown rump and strong white wingbars when they fly. Required fields are marked *. Common sandpiper has a distinctive gap between its carpal area and breast patch. Outside the breeding season, this bird is usually found in inland waters rather than on the open coast. [4], This species is very similar to the slightly larger spotted sandpiper (A. macularia) in non-breeding plumage. The common sandpiper has a brown upper body and a white underside. Alistotle uses the word genus Kalidaris or Skalidris for some gray-colored waterside birds. When in upland areas, sandpipers live along river, ponds, or lakes. The common sandpiper breeds across most of temperate and subtropical Europe and Asia, and migrates to Africa, southern Asia and Australia in winter. The common sandpiper is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. It can be easily distinguished from the species by its long and long legs which give rise to its common and scientific names. Their bills are black, and their legs are yellowish-green (this can be obscured by mud at times). They mainly eat insects and other invertebrates. Hybridization has also been reported between the common sandpiper and the green sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related shank genus Tringa. 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