Calidris bairdii
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Baird's sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) is a small shorebird. It is among those Calidris species which were formerly sometimes included in the genus Erolia, which was subsumed into the genus Calidris in 1973. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The English name and specific bairdii commemorate Spencer Fullerton Baird, 19th-century naturalist and assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
Adults have black legs and a short, straight, thin dark bill. They are dark brown on top and mainly white underneath with a black patch on the rump. The head and breast are light brown with dark streaks. In winter plumage, this species is paler brownish grey above. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints".
One of the best identification features is the long wings, which extend beyond the tail when the bird is on the ground. Only the white-rumped sandpiper also shows this, and that bird can be distinguished by its namesake white rump patch.
Baird's sandpiper breeds in the northern tundra... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cochabamba | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 2 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 4 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 6 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Baird's Sandpiper sighting in Península Valdés on a given day, based on 75 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 39th most-seen of the 96 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and November
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Baird's Sandpiper in Península Valdés on a given day, against about 10% in April–May, August, October and December–February, the lowest months. June and July have too few records to rate.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Baird's 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.
2nd of 26
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Baird's Sandpiper sightings, Península Valdés ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Lauca National Park (Chile, about 40%).
Same genus: Calidris
The closest relatives of the Baird's Sandpiper that you can see in Península Valdés (genus Calidris, Calidris Sandpipers) are White-rumped Sandpiper (about 10%) and Sanderling (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Baird's Sandpiper is recorded against all the birds logged in Península Valdés (75 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.
