Sandpipers, Phalaropes

Least Sandpiper, Calidris minutilla

Family Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Phalaropes)

Size: 6"

Season: Spring and fall migrant

Habitat: Coastal or freshwater marshes, mudflats

The least sandpiper is the smallest of the small sandpipers known as peeps. It has a thin, dark bill that droops slightly at the tip and has pale-yellowish legs (other peeps are dark legged). In breeding plumage the upperparts are brownish with dark-brown mottling. The underparts are white with a heavily streaked, brownish breast. Winter adults are similar but take on a grayish cast (but still retain some brown). Least sandpipers walk across wet ground, bending forward to pick for food, and voice a one- or two-part high-pitched peep. The breeding adult is illustrated.