Bird
Bird
Least Sandpiper
Calidris minutilla
The Least Sandpiper is the smallest shorebird regularly seen in Trinidad, a tiny, brown-toned "peep" that gathers in flocks on mudflats and pond edges during the northern winter after breeding on Arctic and subarctic tundra.
The Least Sandpiper is the smallest shorebird regularly seen in Trinidad, a tiny, brown-toned "peep" that gathers in flocks on mudflats and pond edges during the northern winter after breeding on Arctic and subarctic tundra.
Identification
A very small sandpiper around 13 to 15 cm long, with brown, streaky upperparts, a finely streaked breast, and pale yellowish-green legs, the most reliable feature distinguishing it from similar small "peep" sandpipers with dark legs. Its small size and hunched feeding posture are also useful field marks.
Migration
A common non-breeding migrant present in Trinidad roughly from August to April, having bred on Arctic and subarctic tundra and bog across Canada and Alaska. It winters throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, and is essentially absent from Trinidad outside this non-breeding season.
Status in T&T
A common non-breeding visitor to mudflats, pond edges, and wetland margins across Trinidad, often in mixed flocks with other small shorebirds. Not threatened, and it is protected as a migratory species under the Conservation of Wildlife Act.
