365 Urban Species. #231: Spotted Sandpiper

[urbpan]

Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: on the water lilies on Ward's Pond, Boston.

Urban species #231: Spotted sandpiper Actitis macularia

Sometimes it seems that the naming of birds is done in a haphazard, illogical fashion. Screech owls don't screech, red-bellied woodpeckers aren't especially red bellied, and well, just look at this alleged "spotted sandpiper." To be fair, during the breeding period, this bird's breast was thickly spotted. That was earlier in the year, and our Boston spotted sandpipers will remain, with their bright white breast plumage, until they migrate south in fall. Some will travel within the continent, and some will fly all the way to South America.

During their stay in the north, they stay close to fresh water. Unlike most of their close relatives, spotted sandpipers do not feed along the ocean. Instead they walk along the edges of ponds (the first one I ever saw flabbergasted me as it fed along Walden Pond) and streams, picking at insects, crustaceans, and other invertebrate prey. Their "tipping" or "teetering" motion, their bodies see-sawing over their legs, is diagnostic. Identifying sandpipers is so difficult that this kind of hint is desperately needed--in our case to distinguish the spotted from our other fresh water sandpiper, the solitary sandpiper.

Spotted sandpipers are also notable for their polyandrous breeding. A single female may mate with several males, storing sperm for up to a month. A nest is made in tall grass or among the trees of a streamside forest, and one male raises the female's chicks alone. The female may lay several eggs in different nests, with different males raising each clutch. They grow quickly, "teetering" within an hour, and able to fly in a little over two weeks.

Despite being an oddball among sandpipers, the spotted sandpiper is the most widespread sandpiper breeding in North America. It is common even in urban areas, as long as fresh water and prey are available. Spotted sandpipers will feed along roadsides and in fields, as well.