Least Sandpiper
Calidris minutilla
- Family
- Sandpipers and Allies (Scolopacidae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
The least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) is the smallest shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific minutilla is Medieval Latin for "very small".
Within the genus Calidris, the least sandpiper is most closely related to the white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis).
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Breeds tundra and taiga wetlands from eastern Aleutian Is through Alaska and Canada eastward to Labrador and Nova Scotia; winters mudflats and wetlands from southeastern USA, Caribbean, and Mexico southward to northern South America.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Continents
Countries
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Austria
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- French Guiana
- Germany
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Peru
- Poland
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Spain
- Suriname
- Sweden
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States
- Venezuela
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Least sandpiper
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
