By Magnus Robb, Lukas Pelikan & The Sound Approach

Wood Sandpiper

If ever you are feeling drowsy while listening for nocturnal migrants on a late summer’s night, the bright, well-articulated pi-pe of a Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola should wake you up. In western Europe this is not a common bird, and likely to be traveling alone, but further east this is one of the waders you are likely to hear most often in May and from July to September.

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Wood Sandpiper 
Tringa glareola 
Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 00:56, 6 September 2018 (BB). Pi-pe-type calls and a few chatter calls of a small flock of nocturnal migrants. For a zoomed-in sonagram see f) below. 180906.MR.005625.12 

Please use headphones

Wood Sandpipers show only limited variation in their flight calls, which are the same by day or by night. Fortunately, the pi-pe call given by lone migrants, which can be regarded as their default flight call, is not difficult to identify.

In flocks, you may hear a quieter, lower-pitched call that can be much harder to identify, as it resembles the generic chatter of many other medium-sized wader species. Fortunately, there are usually one or two individuals in the flock also giving pi-pe calls, making the job of recognising the species much easier.

Identification

pi-pe call

  • brief, high-pitched, descending series of short, clearly articulated whistles
  • normally 2 whistles to a series; from 1 – 4 not unusual (d, g & f)
  • each whistle shaped like an inverted capital letter J:
  • frequency range 2.2 – 5.2 kHz (mean min 2.8 kHz, mean max 4.7 kHz; n = 45)
  • first and subsequent whistles similar in length, although first is marginally longer
  • single nocturnal migrants always use this call-type

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a) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, 02:17, 30 July 2019 (Steve Klasan). Two-note and three-note versions of pi-pe call from a nocturnal migrant flying over an urban area; sonagram shows first call.

b) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 00:34, 18 September 2018 (BB). Single pi-pe call of a nocturnal migrant 180918.MR.003458.01

c) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, 01:05, 20 August 2016 (Lukas Pelikan). Two pi-pe calls of a nocturnal migrant over an urban area; sonagram shows first call. Background: Great Green Bush Cricket Tettigonia viridissima.

d) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany 02:17, 30 July 2019 (Steve Klasan). Three-note version of pi-pe call from a nocturnal migrant flying over an urban area.

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e) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, 04:56, 12 September 2016 (Lukas Pelikan). Two pi-pe calls of a nocturnal migrant over an urban area; sonagram shows first call. Background: Song Thrush Turdus philomelos.

f) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 00:56, 6 September 2018 (BB). Pi-pe-type calls and a few chatter calls of a small flock of nocturnal migrants; sonagram shows call at 0:22. 180906.MR.005625.12

g) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola El Prat de Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain, 04:42, 17 April 2020 (Seán Ronayne). A nocturnal migrant giving a 4-note version of the pi-pe call, flying over an urban area.

h) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 05:12, 31 August 2019 (GM). A nocturnal migrant giving a single-note version of pi-pe. 190831.MR.051248.01

Effects of recording quality

  • In close range calls, vestiges of a second harmonic may appear (d).
  • In more distant calls the final descending part of each whistle may appear shorter or disappear (g).

chatter calls

  • very short whistles, shorter than in pi-pe call
  • quieter than, and often interspersed between, pi-pe calls
  • usually single calls, or loosely connected doubles (j & k)
  • lower-pitched than pi-pe; range 2.4 – 4.5 kHz (mean min 3.3 kHz, mean max 4 kHz; n = 12)
  • rather pointed shape; similar starting and ending frequency (ie, barely any ‘hindleg’)
  • when doubled, both whistles have similar pitch (j & k)
  • only recorded when there has been more than one individual

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i) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 02:58, 3 September 2018 (BB). Chatter calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants; sonagram shows calls at 0:06. 180903.MR.025834.02

j) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 21:31, 6 September 2018 (BB). Calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants, perhaps intermediate between pi-pe and chatter; sonagram shows calls at 0:13. 180906.MR.213159.02

k) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 03:00, 14 September 2018 (BB). Lower-pitched chatter calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants; sonagram shows first double call. 180914.MR.030035.02

l) Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Besh Barmag, Siyazan, Azerbaijan, 03:53, 28 July 2019 (BB). Chatter calls of a flock of nocturnal migrants; sonagram shows calls at 0:16. Background: crickets. 190728.MR.035349.02

Similar NFCs

pi-pe

  • Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos also has NFCs consisting of a descending series of whistles, but they are around 1 kHz higher, the delivery of the whistles is slower, and they flow more smoothly into one another. In sonagrams, the individual notes are less arched, and the ‘hindleg’ is much less prominent, only showing at close range.
  • Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus has NFCs consisting of two or three rising whistles, usually of roughly equal length, but they are nearly 2 kHz lower, and the series usually rises in pitch slightly, rather than falling as in Wood Sandpiper.

chatter

  • Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis has NFCs that are almost always given singly, not doubled: a flock of Marsh Sandpipers can sound confusingly similar to a flock of Wood Sandpipers giving chatter calls. However, Marsh averages nearly 1 kHz lower, and its calls have strong harmonics that cover a wider frequency range..

Where and when?

  • anywhere: over towns, forests, mountains and offshore
  • any time: both diurnal and nocturnal
  • can be heard all night, especially middle and  second half

Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Maximum estimates of calling individuals per night: low, medium and high activity. See introduction for a full explanation.