This week for Flora and Fauna Friday it’s our one and only tail-wagging resident shorebird, the Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius).
The Spotted Sandpiper is a common shorebird that can be found throughout South Carolina. Most bird guides will tell you they are found around coastal South Carolina only during the winter, but here on the Sea Islands, we can spot these speckled shorebirds year-round. They solitarily patrol the shores of lakes, ponds, and tidal creeks across their range, where they probe the sediment for invertebrates and snack on any critters that linger on the surface. Here on Edisto, they’re most commonly found on the banks of tidal creeks and gutters at low tide or perched on docks and piers when the tide comes in. Spotted Sandpipers are hard to ignore as they often launch from the shore while uttering shrill, 2 or 3 note calls as they frantically fluctuate from fluttering to gliding just inches over the surface of the water. However, getting a good look at one while it’s still on the ground is a bit harder due to how skittish they are. But, when you do, they’re an easy bird to pick out.
The Spotted Sandpiper is a smaller shorebird, bigger than most peeps but smaller than a Red Knot or Ruddy Turnstone. The Dunlin is the closest size for comparison. Their bills and legs aren’t short but they aren’t really long either. Their neck is longer than most peeps but proportionately shorter than Yellowlegs or Willets. Given their unusually intermediate proportions, few other shorebirds resemble their physique. More distinctly, they have big eyes accentuated by a dark eye-stripe and white eyebrow. In summer, their most distinguishing feature is obvious, their spots. The Spotted Sandpiper in its breeding plumage sports an apron of dark spots from its chin down to its thighs. When the spots are there, there’s no mistaking them. Yet in winter their spots vanish, leaving behind a pure-white, unmarked underside and a uniformly grayish-brown back. Apart from physical appearance, they also have another behavior that is a dead giveaway for the species. The Spotted Sandpiper is one of our select few bird species with a habit of tail wagging and is the only one of our shorebirds that tail-wags. For the Spotted Sandpiper, it wags its tail downward, bobbing its whole body up and down as it walks and stalks.
