Least Sandpiper
Learn to identify the Least Sandpiper by ear. Master the "prree-prree-prree-prree…" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Least Sandpiper sounds like
A bubbly tangle of whistles gives way to several shorter calls, so the track shifts shape instead of holding one dry trill.
How to tell it apart
Where you'll hear it
Breeds across sub-Arctic Alaska & Canada; migrates through all of North & Central America; winters from the southern USA to northern South America and the Caribbean.
Mudflats, salt-marsh pannes, flooded fields, pond margins, sandy or pebbly shores; breeds in sphagnum bogs and sedge tundra of the far north.
On Arctic breeding grounds May–August; southbound migration July–October; winters November–March; northbound passage March–May.
How to recognize it by sight
The Least Sandpiper is the tiniest shorebird in the world—a sparrow-sized ‘peep’ that scurries mouse-like across mudflats and marsh edges. Warm brown upperparts, a clean white belly, a slim slightly decurved bill, and distinctive yellow-green legs set it apart from its close cousins.
Similar species
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Semipalmated has black legs
Western Sandpiper
Western shows longer drooping bill and rufous crown in breeding plumage
Baird's Sandpiper
Baird's is larger with long wings extending past the tail
White-rumped Sandpiper
White-rumped has a bright white rump flash in flight