Semipalmated Sandpiper

About the Semipalmated Sandpiper

The Semipalmated Sandpiper is one of the classic peeps, the tiny look-alike sandpipers that test every birder's patience on a mudflat. Its name comes from the partial webbing between its toes, a detail almost impossible to see in the field; the short, straight, blunt-tipped bill and clean grayish tones are better clues.

Semipalmated Sandpipers stage one of the hemisphere's great migrations, funneling from Arctic breeding grounds to South American coastlines, with some birds flying thousands of miles nonstop over open ocean.

This bird was photographed on the shoreline at Windy Point on Lake Travis, a brief stopover on a very long trip.