Spotted Sandpiper

Actitis macularius

The spotted sandpiper is a small shorebird. Together with its sister species the common sandpiper, it makes up the genus Actitis. They replace each other geographically; stray birds may settle down with breeders of the other species and hybridize. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 20,591 times across 74 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 18°C (typically 11 to 22°C, from 35 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 13°N in September to 52°N in June, about 4,300 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.