Tringa ochropus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% 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 Lake Nakuru National Park on a given day, based on 110 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 152nd most-seen of the 369 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Green Sandpiper in Lake Nakuru National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to July, 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.
25th of 70
Of the 70 parks where we can rate Green Sandpiper sightings, Lake Nakuru National Park ranks 25th 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 Lake Nakuru National Park (genus Tringa, Shanks, Tattlers, and Allies) are Common Greenshank (about 30%), Wood Sandpiper (about 20%) and Marsh Sandpiper (about 20%), 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 Lake Nakuru National Park (110 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.
