Wood Sandpiper - Delaware

First discovered in on 5 May, a Wood Sandpiper, Tringa glareola, was found by Sharon Lynn at Braodkill Beach Impoundment, part of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware. The bird is still being seen as of 12 May.  Although accidental in the Lower 48, and much more so on the East Coast, Wood Sandpiper is sometimes uncommon in flocks of other Scolpacidae in northwestern Alaska, especially the Outer Aleutians, where it has bred.

As the shortish bill of this Tringa suggests, members of the tribe, Tringini, forgo the probing style of other sandpipers, but instead use their visual acuity to locate pray, which they chase and snatch in a manner similar to plovers. An abundant species with an estimated European population of about 1.4 million birds, as many as one million individuals of this long-distance migrant winter in Southeast Asia and in east and central Africa. 

In appearance, Wood Sandpiper is most similar to its congener, Green Sandpiper, T. ochropus, although in North America, it most closely resembles a Solitary Sandpiper, but with longer and slightly more yellow legs, shorter bill, slightly larger overall, and with a less attenuated body.  In flight, its call is described as being similar to Greater Yellowlegs, but more shrill.

Bill Maynard
Editor - Winging It