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Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)
Above and below three: Spotted Sandpipers along Port Mahon Road, Delaware (5/20/2006).
Below: A Spotted Sandpiper forages along a pond edge in Frederick Co., Maryland (5/20/2007).
Below: A Spotted Sandpiper resting on the unexpectedly closed Whitehaven Ferry, Somerset Co., Maryland (5/2/2010).
Below: A Spotted Sandpiper rests at Punta Algarrobo, where a freshwater stream meets the ocean (4/13/2009).
Below: Taken at the Halethorpe Ponds of Patapsco Valley SP, Maryland (4/21/2005).
Below: A well-concealed nest found on Hart-Miller Island, Maryland (2005).
Below: A juvenile Spotted Sandpiper at Swan Creek, Anne Arundel Co., Maryland (7/13/2011).
This widespread and well-known sandpiper is easily identified even at a distance by its peculiar habit of constantly bobbing its tail. When flushed, it has a distinctive flight style that to me looks almost insect-like. Spotted Sandpipers often breed farther south and winter farther north than most of our shorebirds; however, they do nest throughout most of the U.S. and Canada, and often winter as far south as South America.