Actitis hypoleucos
Silhouette: Rebecca Groom · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 member of the closely related genus Tringa.
The common sandpiper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tringa hypoleucos. The species is now placed together with the spotted sandpiper in the genus Actitis that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The genus name Actitis is from Ancient Greek aktites meaning "coast-dweller" from akte meaning "coast". The specific epithet hypoleucos combines the Ancient Greek hupo meaning "beneath" with leukos meaning "white". The species is monotypic and no subspecies are recognised.
The adult is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) long with a 32–35 cm (13–14 in) wingspan. It has greyish... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Naha | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 3 | Đà Nẵng | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 4 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 5 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 7 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 8 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Rajkot | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dresden Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | New England Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Sandpiper sighting in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, based on 53 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 126th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and November–March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Sandpiper in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–July and September–October, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Sandpiper sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
74th of 109
Of the 109 parks where we can rate Common Sandpiper sightings, Addo Elephant National Park ranks 74th at about 10%. The best odds are in Sundarbans National Park (India, about 80%), Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 60%) and Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Scolopacidae
The closest relatives of the Common Sandpiper that you can see in Addo Elephant National Park (family Scolopacidae, Sandpipers and Allies) are Whimbrel (about 10%) and Common Greenshank (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Sandpiper is recorded against all the birds logged in Addo Elephant National Park (53 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
