By Magnus Robb, Lukas Pelikan & The Sound Approach

Common Sandpiper

Have you ever stayed out until dusk, watching waders on a calm day in late summer? Chances are, you will have heard Common Sandpipers Actitis hypoleucos calling excitedly as they gain height, turn a wide arc, then head off into the night. Hours later, they are still on the wing, and you may pick up their calls just about anywhere in Europe.

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Common Sandpiper 
Actitis hypoleucos 
Sagres, Vila de Bispo, Portugal, 01:15, 6 September 2019 (GM). Pi-wi-we calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants. Background: Atlantic Ocean. For a zoomed-in sonagram from this recording, see example e) below. 190906.MR.011535.02 

Please use headphones

As in most waders, flight calls of Common Sandpipers are the same day or night. The call that they nearly always use is among the easiest of all NFCs to recognise. Variation mostly concerns the length, depending for example on whether the caller is alone or not. Rarely, we may hear an additional second call-type from excited flocks, but we could be forgiven for failing to notice or identify it.

Common Sandpipers do often travel alone, and one individual might be the only bird you pick up in a whole night. It is also true for many listening stations that few nights from mid-July until September will go by without at least one Common Sandpiper. They occur in many other months too, so this is a key species to learn.

Identification

pi-wi-we call

  • high-pitched, descending series of rising whistles
  • volume diminishes slightly towards end of series (a, b & c)
  • first whistle 2/3 of the length of subsequent ones; median duration of 1st whistle 94 ms (90% range 55 – 138; n = 62); of 2nd whistle 146 ms (90% range 99 – 187; n = 62), etc
  • frequencies from 3.8 - 6.8 kHz for rising whistles (mean min 4.4 kHz, mean max 5.7 kHz; n = 62); no significant difference between singles and flocks
  • each whistle followed by a very fine, straight ‘hindleg’ descending to around 3 kHz (c, e & f); much longer than any ''foreleg' that may be present

lone individuals

  • 1-6 whistles per series (mean 3.3; n=51); majority have 3 or 2; just 1 is rare
  • short series; duration 288 - 969 ms (90% range, median 551 ms; n = 51)
  • series tend to be longer near dusk and dawn: perhaps individuals seeking company

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a) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Sagres, Vila de Bispo, Portugal, 02:04, 3 September 2018 (GM). Three pi-wi-we-type flight calls of an apparently single nocturnal migrant: two-note version. Sonagram shows call at 0:23. 180903.MR.020438.01

b) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Cabriz, Sintra, Portugal, 05:21, 22 September 2012. Single pi-wi-we flight call of an apparently single nocturnal migrant: three-note version. 120922.MR.0521402

c) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Cabriz, Sintra, Portugal, 01:37, 16 September 2018. Single pi-wi-we-type flight call of an apparently single nocturnal migrant: four-note version. 180916.MR.013700.01

d) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Poole Harbour, Dorset, England, 02:49, 24 July 2019 (Paul Morton). A series of longer pi-wi-we-type flight calls of an apparently single nocturnal migrant. Sonagram shows call at 0:23. Background: European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus.

flocks

  • typically 5-9 whistles per series (mean 7.1; n = 11); however, we have counted as many as 15
  • longer series; duration 668 - 1428 ms (90% range, median 1219 ms; n = 11)
  • in some calls the second whistle is highest, not the first

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e) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Sagres, Vila de Bispo, Portugal, 01:15, 6 September 2019 (GM). Pi-wi-we calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants. Background: Atlantic Ocean. Sonagram shows call at 0:18 - 0:19. For a zoomed-out sonagram of this recording see the top of the page. 190906.MR.011535.02

f) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Portland Bill, Dorset, England, 00:48, 15 August 2017 (Nick Hopper). Pi-wi-we-type flight calls and pip-pip-pip calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants. Sonagram shows call at 0:28 - 0:29. Background: crickets.

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g) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Portland Bill, Dorset, England, 02:52, 17 April 2019 (Nick Hopper). Pip-pip-pip calls of at least two nocturnal migrants. Sonagram show calls at 0:06 - 0:07.

h) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Portland Bill, Dorset, England, 00:48, 15 August 2017 (Nick Hopper). Pip-pip-pip calls interspersed among much louder pi-wi-we-type flight calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants. Sonagram shows calls at 0:09 - 0:11. Background; crickets.

Effects of distance, acoustic surroundings and recording quality

  • Pip calls are only audible at closer range and  may not show at all in sonagrams of flocks recorded at a distance, with only pi-wi-we calls appearing.

Similar NFCS

  • Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola has descending, two note NFCs that can resemble some versions of Common to the ear, but the pitch is lower and the individual notes have a different shape, arched at the top and with a much more prominent ‘hindleg’.
  • Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus has NFCs with two or three rising notes, but they are much lower-pitched, the notes rise much more dramatically, and the first note is by far the longest: in Common the first note is shorter than second and subsequent notes.
  • Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereous often has NFCs with two or three rising notes, but the call does not descend overall; indeed, it often rises. The pitch of the call is very much lower.

Where and when?

  • anywhere: over towns, forests, mountains and offshore
  • any time: both diurnal and nocturnal
  • can be heard all night: peak activity between midnight and dawn

Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Maximum estimates of calling individuals per night: low, medium and high activity. See introduction for a full explanation.