Semipalmated Sandpiper

How to find it

Look for it on mudflats, feeding in mixed groups with Least and Western Sandpipers. Scan these flocks for the grayer, stouter-billed bird. Head for the Pacific coast, and the Gulf of Nicoya in particular, where it is most numerous. Morning and late afternoon are best at Gulf of Nicoya sites such as Punta Morales. Listen as well as look, since its short, harsh call differs from the higher, trilled jeek of Western Sandpiper.

How to recognise it

This is a very small sandpiper, about 15 to 18 cm long.

Look for these marks:

Black legs.

A short, stout, straight dark bill.

A dark grey-brown back.

White underparts.

Next to other peeps it looks grayer above and has a less streaked breast. It often looks bull-necked, which gives it a compact, chunky shape.

The name "semipalmated" refers to slight webbing between the three front toes, a feature that helps the bird walk on mud.

In Costa Rica it is slightly smaller than the Western Sandpiper, with a bill that is shorter, straighter and blunter at the tip.

What it sounds like

Recording: Dan MacNeal, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It feeds on mudflats, picking up food by sight and by feel with the bill. It runs along sand or mud snatching food, and sometimes probes.

Semipalmated Sandpipers seem to be always on the move. They peck rapidly for tiny prey and keep chasing off other semis that feed close by.

It often feeds alongside Least and Western Sandpipers, so you will usually meet it in mixed groups rather than alone. During migration it is often found in flocks of thousands at stopover points.

Where it lives

On migration and in winter it uses coastal beaches, lake and river shores, mudflats and salt marsh pools.

In Costa Rica it is a bird of the coast. On the Pacific side it is a fairly common winter resident and is most numerous around the Gulf of Nicoya. It is much scarcer on the Caribbean coast.

When to see it

A Costa Rican summary calls it a common, locally abundant migrant from mid August to mid November and again from March to early May. Some non-breeding birds stay through the summer on the Pacific coast, though only occasionally.

Similar birds

It is a little bigger than a Least Sandpiper and has a clearly stouter bill. Western Sandpiper usually has a longer bill that droops at the tip, though the two overlap, and Western looks rangier with a bit more primary projection. Semipalmated and Western are the only peeps with webbed toes, so call, bill and build together give the best answer.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rica's bird list uses the Spanish name Correlimos Semipalmado. Elsewhere in Latin America it is also called Playero Semipalmado and Playerito Semipalmado. The closely related Western Sandpiper has the local nickname 'Becacina', but the Semipalmated gets no separate nickname on that list.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as M, a migrant, and the IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened.

Photography tips

Mixed flocks on mudflats give the best chances, so scan them for the grayer, stouter-billed bird. Morning and late afternoon are the best times at Gulf of Nicoya sites such as Punta Morales.