Belonging to the Wader family, Sandpipers are small birds with longs legs and slender, yet long bills. With dull colored underbellies, with brown and grey plumage on their torsos, these birds have spots arrayed on their necks.

A Sandpiper

The Common Sandpiper is a migratory species that calls rivers, ponds, or lakes home.

The Sandpipers’ long slender bills are ideal for ‘probing’ the swampy soil for prey that mostly includes little insects, worms, frogs and other coastal creatures.

Their long legs enable speedy movement, and they are often spotted running around the banks of lakes and ponds in large groups, almost resembling a moving brown wave!

Ambling along Kabini's Banks?

During flight, Common Sandpipers are stiff-winged and typically stay close to the water/ground. While airborne, they tend to be vocal birds, producing shrill, yet broken cries.

A polyandrous species, the females migrate to the migratory grounds prior to the males. The female courts the male and often lays a clutch of 4 eggs. The chicks normally leave the nest as soon as the last egg hatches, and begin feeding and fending for themselves. The mothers usually leave by then, while the fathers watch over them for a couple of weeks.

You will find Common Sandpipers all over the edges of the river at the Orange County, Kabini resort, especially around the small swamp beyond the fields.

Rajan Kanagasabai

An ardent Environmentalist and an avid wildlife Photographer, Rajan is a prominent member of leading Environmental, Wildlife and Photography organizations. His works have been featured on several travel magazines. A frequent visitor to Orange County, Kabini and Coorg, Rajan specializes in Wildlife and Bird Photography. Possessing over 23 years of experience working in the IT Industry, Rajan holds a senior management position at one of India's top IT companies. Rajan has reviewed a number of global resorts for several leading travel journals and blogs and is also a Destination Expert for the renowned Trip Advisor travel forum.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Birds, Destinations, Nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.