Western Sandpiper

• Size: 5.5-6.7" long // 13.8-14.6" wingspan
• Diet: insects, spiders, and aquatic invertebrates
• Seasonal Habits: Migrate in winter
• Temperament: Not Aggressive

With rufous and gold markings on the head and wings, breeding adult Western Sandpipers are the most colorful of the tiny North American sandpipers known as 'peeps.' This abundant shorebird gathers in flocks numbering in the hundreds of thousands in California and Alaska during spring migration. It's among the continent's great wildlife spectacles, particularly when they fly up and wheel about, exercising their wings (or fleeing from falcons on the hunt) before flying to remote nesting grounds in the Arctic.