Tringa ochropus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 Helsinki on a given day, based on 410 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 102nd most-seen of the 233 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.
July
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Green Sandpiper in Helsinki on a given day, against under 5% in May and September–March, the lowest months.
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.
50th of 143
Of the 143 cities where we can rate Green Sandpiper sightings, Helsinki ranks 50th at about 10%. The best odds are in Vasai-Virar (India, about 30%), Xi'an (China, about 20%) and Kathmandu (Nepal, about 20%).
Same genus: Tringa
The closest relatives of the Green Sandpiper that you can see in Helsinki (genus Tringa, Shanks, Tattlers, and Allies) are Common Redshank (about 20%), Wood Sandpiper (about 20%) 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 Helsinki (410 verified sightings), 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.
