Tringa ochropus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The green sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) is a small wader (shorebird) of the Old World. The green sandpiper represents an ancient lineage of the genus Tringa; its only close living relative is the solitary sandpiper (T. solitaria). They both have brown wings with little light dots and a delicate but contrasting neck and chest pattern. In addition, both species nest in trees, unlike most other scolopacids.
Given its basal position in Tringa, it is fairly unsurprising that suspected cases of hybridisation between this species and the common sandpiper (A. hypoleucos) of the sister genus Actitis have been reported. The green sandpiper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the current binomial name Tringa ochropus. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific ochropus is from Ancient Greek okhros, "ochre", and pous, "foot". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
This species is a somewhat... Wikipedia →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Green Sandpiper sighting in Akagera National Park on a given day, based on 54 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 168th most-seen of the 320 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November and December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Green Sandpiper in Akagera National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to July, the lowest months. Those are among Akagera National Park's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Green 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.
32nd of 70
Of the 70 parks where we can rate Green Sandpiper sightings, Akagera National Park ranks 32nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Bale Mountains National Park (Ethiopia, about 50%), Keoladeo National Park (India, about 40%) and Kaziranga National Park (India, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Tringa
The closest relatives of the Green Sandpiper that you can see in Akagera National Park (genus Tringa, Shanks, Tattlers, and Allies) are Wood Sandpiper (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 Green Sandpiper is recorded against all the birds logged in Akagera National Park (54 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.
