{"id":5850,"date":"2012-08-04T05:21:51","date_gmt":"2012-08-04T11:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5850"},"modified":"2025-08-17T09:49:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T14:49:57","slug":"least-sandpiper-the-worlds-smallest-shorebird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/04\/least-sandpiper-the-worlds-smallest-shorebird\/","title":{"rendered":"Least Sandpiper – The World’s Smallest Shorebird"},"content":{"rendered":"

Least Sandpiper – the world’s smallest shorebird, weighing in at a mere 0.7 ounces (20\u00a0g), a length of 6 inches and a wingspan of 13 inches. Least Sandpipers breed in wet low-Arctic locations from Alaska, the Yukon to Quebec and Newfoundland and they winter in southern North America south to Peru and Brazil.<\/p>\n

\"LeastLeast Sandpiper – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of their small size and habit of feeding near vegetative cover they can be difficult to spot. Their prey consists of sand fleas, tiny mollusks, flies, and a variety of other small terrestrial and aquatic prey.<\/p>\n

The Least Sandpiper above was photographed in June of 2008 at Fort De Soto’s north beach<\/span><\/a> where I found it well out in the open on the sand between two areas of Spartina marsh.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Least Sandpiper photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Least Sandpipers (Calidris minutilla) are the world’s smallest shorebird, weighing in at a mere 0.7 ounces (20 g), a length of 6 inches and a wingspan of 13 inches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,1719,2000],"tags":[4004,4039,4440,5132,14752,4077,1720,4958,4017,3521,992,4891,274,10995,1721,165,4957],"class_list":["post-5850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-least-sandpipers","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-calidris-minutilla","tag-coastal","tag-coastal-island","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-least-sandpiper","tag-peeps","tag-sand","tag-sandpiper","tag-sandpipers","tag-shore","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-smallest","tag-smallest-sandpiper","tag-spring","tag-tiny"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t