Skip to main content
sandpiper

sandpiper

3 5.5
A small shore bird with a thin bill that feeds on mud and wet sand
  • noun
  • /ˈsændˌpaɪpər/
translation icon : playero
  • Spotted sandpipers are the most widely distributed sandpipers in North America.
  • spotted sandpipers
  • female spotted sandpipers
  • white-rumped sandpipers

Snow leopard, sandpiper, Hawaiian monk seal, the Chuckwalla lizard.

Examples

  • While walking along the beach, I spotted a group of sandpipers scurrying along the waves.

  • Not a soul on the beach unless she counted the terns and sandpipers.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Fred loves to watch the sandpipers.

  • I can only hope sandpipers survived on other beaches elsewhere in the world.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • I stood on the flats with the sandpipers and the gulls.

  • Spotted sandpipers on a Minnesota lake reveal the secrets of their breeding success.

    Academic text (1995)
  • My observations indicated that female spotted sandpipers are in control of mating.

    Academic text (1995)
  • At the water's slapping, hissing, frothing edge, sandpipers scurry and halt, stab the foam for some morsel, and scurry on.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The sandpipers were gracefully darting in and out of the tide as they searched for food.

  • At the shoreline, a flock of sandpipers called to each other while foraging in the wet sand.

Compounds

A large bird like a plover that lives in North American fields and meadows

A small migratory bird with a long curved bill that feeds on mudflats

A small bird that wades in shallow water on European coasts and mudflats

A very small bird that lives on coasts in North America with yellow green legs

A small wading bird with a red back that breeds in the Arctic and flies south in winter

pectoral sandpiper
  • Specialized
8.2

A medium-sized wading bird with a striped chest that puffs out during courtship

A small wading bird with brown back and black spots on its white belly

A large bird with a long neck and yellow legs that lives in open fields and grasslands

How Big

crane
34 2.5
stork
27 2.3
heron
11 2.0
egret
7 6.3
sandpiper
3 5.5

Surface Forms

sandpiper singular
sandpipers plural

Morphology

sandpiper = sand + piper (transparent) = sand + piper

Clear compound of 'sand' (habitat) + 'piper' (a bird that makes a piping call), so the bird name is directly derived from its habitat and call.

Etymology

Sandpiper comes from two simple words: sand and piper. It was named for living on sandy shores and for its high 'piping' call—like a small pipe—so the name helps you remember a shore bird with a thin beak and a clear, pipe-like sound.