Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Limosa (species specific name) haemastica ("bloody)

Moulting adult Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) at Cattawade, Suffolk - August 2026

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 300g  /  Length: 37-42cm  /  Wingspan: 74cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Vulnerable 

Arguably the most remote and understudied of the four godwit species, they breed in largely remote near coastal bogs of Alaska and Canada before migrating to the very south of South America, primarily along the Argentinian Coast. This bird was a very off course vagrant having somehow found its way to the UK, where less than 10 individuals have ever been recorded.
 
Related Species: 
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Limosa
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 
 
- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Extremely infrequent vagrant.

 - Birds seen at Cattawade, Suffolk 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology:  Calidris (bird named by Aristotle) bairdii (named for naturalust Spencer Baird)

Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) at Rutland Water, Rutland, UK - October 2025

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 38g  /  Length: 18-19cm  /  Wingspan: 43cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

A tiny wader that breeds on the most Northerly Tundra of Alaska and Canada, as well as small footholds in Siberia and Greenland.  They are extreme long distance migrants, wintering at the Southern end of South America, and it is this colossal journey that makes them fairly prone to vagrancy, with a handful being found in the UK each year. Their most diagnostic feature is the extremely long wings

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris 
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A rare vagrant
 - Single individual seen at Rutland Water in October 2025

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Tringa (bird named by Aristotle) stagnatilis ("swamp")

Adult in Winter plumage of Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) at Side, Antalya, turkey - March 2025

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 45-120g  /  Length: 22-26cm  /  Wingspan: 55-59cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

A species with a somewhat unusual breeding range as it favours the steppe of Central Asia to breed and the core range is Moldova to the Russian Far East, however, it's Wintering range is huge and varied comprising almost all of sub-Saharan Africa, India, South East Asia and Australia.While it does have a patchy distribution in North Eastern Europe, this bird in Turkey would have been on passage.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

TURKEY  - Turkish: Bataklık düdükçünü ("Swamp whistler")
 - ANTALYA 2025 TRIP - One near Side. 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Limnodromus ("marsh runner") griseus ("grey")

Moulting Short-billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus griseus) at Anchorage, Alaska - August 2024

Featured Subspecies: Limnodromus griseus caurinus
Weight: 73-155g  /  Length: 23-32cm  /  Wingspan: 46-56cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Despite the seemingly clear cut naming difference between the long and short billed dowitchers, the differentiation is in reality no way near as decisive as the names would imply, and several more nuanced field marks such as patterning and shape are needed. Their preferred breeding habitat is in the Northern bogs, marshes and mudflats of Alaska and Canada.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Limnodromus
SUBSPECIES: L. g. caurinus, L. g. hendersoni, L. g. griseus

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in South-East Alaska, Winters on Southern Coast of the Lower 48
 - CHICAGO TO ALASKA ROADTRIP 2024: Seen in Alaska

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Gallinago ("woodcock/snipe") delicata ("dainty")

Adult Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) at Anchorage, Alaska, USA - August 2024

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 80-147g  /  Length: 23-28cm  /  Wingspan: 39-45cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The most common snipe species of North America and a close relation of the common snipe, Wilson's Snipe breeds widely across the majority of Canada and Winters largely in the Southern United States down through to South America. As with other snipe species, they specialise in using ther long beak to probe into deep mud for invertibrates.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Gallinago
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES - Breeds in Alaska and the Northern part of the Midwest, Winters in the Southern states.
 - CHICAGO TO ALASKA ROADTRIP 2024: One at Potter's Marsh Boardwalk, Anchorage, Alaska

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Calidris (bird named by Aristotle) pusilla ("very small")

 Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla ) at Frampton Marshes, Lincolnshire - October 2023

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 20-32g  /  Length: 13-15cm  /  Wingspan: 35-37cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Near Threatened

A small North American wader which gets its name from the partial webbing between it's toes, the Semipalmated Sandpiper is another Arctic breeding long-distant migrant species that Winters in South America. It turns up as a vagrant in Europe in most years.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A rare vagrant
 - Vagrant seen at Frampton Marshes in October 2023. 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Calidris (bird named by Aristotle) subruficollis ("rufous-necked") 

Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis) at Frampton Marshes, Lincolnshire - October 2023

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 63g  /  Length: 19-23cm  /  Wingspan: 46cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Near Threatened

An unusual looking wader that breeds in the Arctic of Alaska, Canada and Russia before taking part in a vast migration down to Winter in Uruguay and the surrounding areas. It's vast migration makes it prone to vagrancy, and has turned up in many parts of the world. They leave the nest within 12 hours of hatching and are able to feed themselves.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A rare vagrant
 - Vagrant seen at Frampton Marshes in October 2023.

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Tringa (bird named by Aristotle) flavipes ("yellow foot")

Non-breeding Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) at Frampton Marshes, Lincolnshire - September 2023

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 48-114g  /  Length: 23-25cm  /  Wingspan: 59-64cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

A medium sized if slender wader that spans the length of the Americas from it's breeding grounds in Alaska to it's wintering grounds spreading right down the length of South America. Despite the name association, it is not the closest relative of the Greater Yellowlegs, but nonetheless it is a species that gives a very similar impression, largely differentiated by size and structural detail.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A rare vagrant
 - Vagrant seen at Frampton Marshes in September 2023.

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Prairie Willet (Tringa inornata)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Tringa (bird named by Aristotle) inornata ("plain")

 

Non-breeding Prairie Willet (Tringa inornata) at Hayward, California - September 2022

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 200-330g/kg  /  Length: 33-41cm  /  Wingspan: 70cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The prairie willet is in some ways a slightly confusing looking bird to someone used to British birding - it's most closely related to the shanks but is substantially more larger, being much more on a scale with godwits, a feature to which its only visible in flight black and white wing barring also suggests. To me it's call also registered as more like an Oystercatcher than anything else. They proved to be one of the more common large waders we saw. Up until 2026, it was considered that there was one species of willet - but it has now been split into prairie willet and saltmarsh willet.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
SUBSPECIES: N/A

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in North West of the Lower 48 and the North East Coast, Wintering along the coast
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Hayward, Berkeley and Monterey

 Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Hudsonian Whimbrel (Numenius hudsonicus)

OTHER NAMES: Hudsonian Curlew
Latin Etymology: Numenius (bird mentioned by Hesychius) hudsonicus (of the Hudson)

Adult Hudsonian Whimbrel (Numenius hudsonicus) at Berkeley, California - August 2022

Featured Subspecies: Unknown
Weight: 270-493g  /  Length: 37-47cm  /  Wingspan: 75-90cm
NO UK STATUS/ Red List: Not Yet Evaluated 

A recent split from the closely related Eurasian Whimbrel due to genetic and plumage differences, like most US waders they are tundra breeders which migrate South during the Winter, although in this instance their wintering range extends right down to the southern tip of Patagonia in South America. It is not recognised by all authorities, but is by ones including IOC and BOU.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Numenius
SUBSPECIES: N. h. rufiventris, N. h. hudsonicus

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in Alaska and Winters coastally in the Lower 48.
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Berkeley and Half Moon Bay

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus*, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Tringa (bird named by Aristotle) incana ("light grey")  

Non-breeding Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) at Big Sur, California - September 2022

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 110g  /  Length: 28cm  /  Wingspan: 66cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The Wandering Tattler is in many ways a fairly understated grey-brown wader that favours rocky shorelines, but it's migratory habits are fairly spectacular. While most North American Waders primarily travel continentally, this species seems to take the Pacific itself as Wintering grounds, and can be found not only on the Californian Coast, but also on many Pacific islands down around to the North East coast of Australia!

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in Alaska, Winters in California and Hawai'i
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Big Sur

 Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Tringa (bird named by Aristotle) melanoleuca ("black and white")

Molting adult Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) at Hayward, California - September 2022

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 11-250g/kg  /  Length: 29-40cm  /  Wingspan: 60cm
NO UK STATUS/ IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Given it's relationship to the other tringa species, it's honestly somewhat frustrating to me that this bird isn't named the Greater Yellowshank because it would fit much more neatly in the naming scheme of Redshanks and Greenshanks.  Alas, it is not, and it's closest confusion species is anyway the lesser yellowlegs is found in much of the same range and with similar colouration, and mostly has to be separated by proportions and subtle markings differences.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Tringa
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in Alaska, Winters along warmer Southern coasts, passage elsewhere
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Hayward and Berkeley 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

OTHER NAMES: Sicklebird, Candlestick Bird
Latin Etymology: Numenius (bird mentioned by Hesychius) americanus ("American") 

Adult Long-billed Curlew (subspecies N. a. parvus) at Monterey, California -  September 2022

Featured Subspecies: Numenius americanus parvus
Weight: 490-950g  /  Length: 50-65cm  /  Wingspan: 62-92cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

One of the three curlew species that, depending on the metric you use, tie up the category of "largest wader" and certainly the largest species of the group to be regularly found in North America. As the name suggests, the long probing beak is the immediate feature that sticks out and while overlapping with the similar Far-Eastern Curlew, holds the record for the longest beak of a wader at up to 21.9cm.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Numenius
SUBSPECIES: N. a. americanus, N. a. parvus 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in West-Central North America and Winter along much of the Coast of the Lower 48
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP:  Seen at Hayward, Berkeley and Monterey
 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)

OTHER NAMES: Greater American Godwit
Latin Etymology:  Limosa (species specific name) fedoa (old English word for godwit)

Non-breeding Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa - unknown subspecies) at Monterey, California - September 2022

Featured Subspecies: Unknown
Weight: 325-390g  /  Length: 44cm  /  Wingspan: 71cm
NO UK STATUS/ IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The largest of the four extant godwit species, they slightly unusual compared ot many of the othe waders seen on the California trip in that the bulk of their breeding range is much further south and inland around the Dakotas and into Canada rather than the tundra favoured by many species. They then migrate to different typical wintering sites along the coast depending on which population they are from.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae 
Genus: Limosa 
SUBSPECIES: L. f. beringiae, L. f. fedoa

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Description
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Hayward, Berkeley and Monterey

 Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Calidris (bird named by Aristotle) mauri (after botanist Ernesto Mauri)

Nonbreeding Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) at Berkeley, California - August 2022

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 22-35g  /  Length: 14-17cm  /  Wingspan: 35-37cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The Western Sandpiper is a small wader that breeds on the Western most edge of Alaska and just into the tip of Siberia, before migrating southwards to Winter around the majority of the coast of the Lower 48, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and upper South America. In terms of European equivalent, their bill shape and proportions put me in mind of dunlin, although their non-breeding plumage is much brighter.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in Alaska, Wintering along most of the Southern and Western States
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Hayward, Berkeley and Monterey

 Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Calidris (bird named by Aristotle) minutilla ("very small") 

Winter plumage Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) at Monterey, California - September 2022

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 19-30g  /  Length: 13-15cm  /  Wingspan: 27-28cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The smallest of all waders, the Least Sandpiper is an extremely diminutive bird with distinctive yellow feet that make it easy to pick out for a bird of its size. It nests in Tundra and Bogs and Winter from the Southern USA to the northern third of South America, primarily on mudflats.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in Alaska, Wintering along most of the Southern States
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Hayward, Berkeley and Monterey
 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Arenaria melanocephala

 Breeding plumage of Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala) at Monterey, California - September 2022

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 100-170g  /  Length: 22-25cm  /  Wingspan: 53cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

While the Ruddy Turnstone has the best part of a global distribution along coastlines, the Black Turnstone is found exclusively along the West Coast of North America. It lacks the bold patterning of it's sister species, for a darker more subdued looking bird, albeit one with a subtle greenish irridescence on its black plumage. Almost the entire population breeds in the vast Yukon-Kuskokwim delta in Alaska

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Arenaria
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds on the Alaskan West, and Non-breeding down the whole West Coast
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP: Seen at Berkeley and Monterey
 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura)

OTHER NAMES: Pintail Snipe
Latin Etymology: Gallinago ("woodcock/snipe") stenura ("narrow tailed")

Two adult Pint-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura) at Phnom Krom, Cambodia - February 2019

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 115g  /  Length: 25-27cm  /  Wingspan: 44-47cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

While the Common Snipe is distributed right the way across Eurasia, in the East there is a wider variety of snipe species of which the Pintail in the most common migrant.  Snipe identification is, if I'm honest, not the easiest thing in the world - they are all similarly shaped, similarly cryptically patterned birds and you probably need a bit of an experience to get the knack down, so I'm happy to defer to ours guide from the Cambodia Bird Guide Association in identifying these as Pin-tailed.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Gallinago
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

CAMBODIA - Khmer name: ខ្វែកត្រោកកន្ទុយម្ជុល ("needle tail")

Locally fairly common Winter visitor

SINGAPORE / CAMBODIA 2019 TRIP - Several at Phnom Krom

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto .