The Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the Spotted Sandpiper (A. macularia), make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize. Hybridization has also been reported between the Common Sandpiper and the Green Sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related shank genus Tringa.
Read more about Common Sandpiper: Description, Ecology
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—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Across the lonely beach we flit,
One little sandpiper and I;
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The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.
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As up and down the beach we flit—
One little sandpiper and I.”
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