Fun Wood Sandpiper Facts For Kids

The wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola) is a type of wader and the smallest of the shanks. These sandpipers are often found in subarctic wetlands across Europe.

These birds of North America migrate often to different places depending on various seasons. Their migratory behavior can be closely examined when seen across regions of Europe and Asia.

It's very interesting how these birds share a family relationship with two other species. The common redshank and marsh sandpiper are the closest relative to the wood sandpiper, Tringa glareola.

You can easily spot these birds in regions such as Europe, Asia, and Africa along with southeast Asia and Australia. As these birds migrate in regular cycles, they are protected by BirdLife International under the act of conservation of African-Eurasian birdlife.

Shallow water is the primary area where wood sandpipers can be found, it's very difficult to spot this line of species in the forest. Human intrusion and commercial hunting remained one of the reasons for their population decline. Nonetheless, these birds have only one species, hence they are monotypic species.

We understand that curiosity has no end! To uncover more such wonderful facts make sure to check out our spotted sandpiper fact and least sandpiper fact pages.

Wood Sandpiper Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a wood sandpiper?

Wood sandpipers are a type of bird that originates from the Chordata phylum and belongs to the Scolopacidae family.

What class of animal does a wood sandpiper belong to?

All the birds are assigned to the Aves class. Hence, given that wood sandpiper is a type of bird, it naturally belongs to the Aves class.

How many wood sandpipers are there in the world?

The wood sandpipers are migratory birds, hence it can be difficult to track down the exact number of their population. However, it's believed that the breeding areas of the wood sandpiper range to subarctic wetlands across Europe and Asia.

The global population of these species can be considered to be around three million. These birds have a pretty stable population pattern and currently are not facing any major threat.

Where does a wood sandpiper live?

These bids change their habitats depending on the season. During a breeding season, they can be found in Northern Europe.

Whereas during the winters these birds migrate to Africa and the Indian sub-continent, they can also be found in southeast Asia and Australia along with north America. These birds normally prefer an altitude of around 3280.8 ft (1000 m), hence it's very difficult to spot a sandpiper in a forest.

What is a wood sandpiper's habitat?

The wood sandpiper habitat includes shallow water, as it helps them to pick small fish. These birds are often found in small flocks walking on grassy and light vegetation.

Areas such as subtropical flooded grasslands near freshwater lakes and streams along with shrublands and wetlands are ideal for this species. If you wish to adopt a wood sandpiper then it would be wise to have water storage ponds and aquaculture ponds to establish the right artificial ecosystem for this species.

Who do wood sandpipers live with?

Wood sandpipers often live in small flocks and don't generally mix with other species. However, as these birds with square white rumps migrate often, they do come into contact with many birds.

Birds such as the greater flamingo and wood sandpiper share the same habitats in a few of their migratory locations. Both wood sandpipers and Siberian cranes spend their winters in India, thus it can be assumed that these birds live together in those very locations.

How long does a wood sandpiper live?

Wood sandpipers can live up to around 9-10 years in the wild or their natural habitat.

How do they reproduce?

The breeding season for this species comes during May and June. You can find their nest near swampy areas and tundra scrublands. This bird lays around three to four eggs all pale green in color. The young are very quick to hatch and they leave the nest after one month past hatching.

The nest of these species is often made with grass and leaves, they even use old nests from other species in some cases. All the sandpipers form monogamous pairs. The parenting behavior among these birds is very unique. Some sandpipers have only females doing the parental duties or only males doing the parental duties.

What is their conservation status?

Human interference remained to be a common problem for many birds, however, this species still has a growing population despite constant land clearings. Therefore, they have a conservation status of Least Concern.

Wood Sandpiper Fun Facts

What do wood sandpipers look like?

Sandpipers are very small, both the sexes are almost similar in size, the males are slightly smaller than the females. They have a square white rump and green to yellow legs.

They have a unique brown to gray lore along with white underpants. The wings have a 21-22 in (55-60 cm) wingspan with no wing bars. These species have a long bill with brown eyes.

How cute are they?

These brown waders are very cute, it's indeed a beautiful sight to watch this bird in its natural habitat, hunting fish from its bill.

How do they communicate?

The wood sandpiper call is a very unique sound and can be heard very easily even from a considerable distance. As they get nervous very easily they very often use their calls to communicate an arm call in a repeated manner.

How big is a wood sandpiper?

Wood sandpipers are indeed very tiny and are almost similar in size to redwing. Other species such as song thrush are slightly bigger than a wood sandpiper.

How fast can a wood sandpiper move?

This species can move very fast, they often spend a lot of time walking on dense vegetation, hunting for fish from their bill.

How much does a wood sandpiper weigh?

An average wood sandpiper can weigh anywhere around 0.13-0.2 lb (60-70 g).

What are the male and female names of the species?

This species with a white rump does not have separate names for their male and female birds. Rather you can address a wood sandpiper either with its scientific name or its local name. Both the sexes are called similar names.

What would you call a baby wood sandpiper?

Generally, when an egg hatches it's called a hatchling, as the young grow they are called nestlings. It very much depends on the age of the chick, accordingly, they can be referred to with the assigned terms.

What do they eat?

The diet mainly comprises aquatic insects and insect larvae. Invertebrates play an important role in the diet of this species. Other insects such as spiders along with mollusks are their main food items. These birds also eat small fishes.

Are they dangerous?

No, wood sandpipers are very tiny and cannot be of harm to anyone. These birds are very quiet in general and can get scared easily.

Would they make a good pet?

Yes, these birds can be considered to be good pets. However, it's important to provide a suitable artificial ecosystem to this species, otherwise, it may damage their growth.

Did you know...

As we know traveling can be hectic, but migration is a whole different subject. The wood sandpipers are an expert in this very subject, as they can use around 40-50% of their body mass across a distance of 1864-2485 mi (3000-4000 km). They achieve the following by flying non-stop.

The word sandpiper actually comes from the sounds they make rather than their beaks. Their short 'piped' noises that sound like whistles gave them their name and are one of the things they are known for.

The wood sandpiper range map

These birds are incredibly smart while choosing their migratory location. They have different locations assigned for different seasons. During the breeding season, their population mostly resides in wetlands across Europe and Asia. During June and August, these birds march towards the south, following which they return to the north in early April.

Wood sandpiper vs marsh sandpiper

The marsh sandpiper is very different from wood sandpiper. A marsh sandpiper has a very thin bill and a relatively simmer structure, but the wood sandpiper in those regards is very plumy.

A marsh sandpiper has orange legs whereas a wood sandpiper has brown legs. Both these species might seem similar in some regards but they are very different from one another.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds from our purple sandpiper facts and solitary sandpiper facts for kids pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable wood sandpiper coloring pages.