-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Chordates (Phylum Chordata)

-Vertebrates (Subphylum Vertebrata)

-Birds (Class Aves)

-Shorebirds and Allies (Order Charadriiformes)

-Sandpipers and Allies (Family Scolopacidae)

-Common and Spotted Sandpipers (Genus Actitis)

-Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)

The Spotted Sandpiper is a mall shorebird. I constantly bobs its tail while working edges of streams, ponds, and lakes for invertebrates. They forage in a variety of ways. It picks up items from surface of ground or water; snatches flying insects out of the air; plucks small items from shallow water. On open flats, it may crouch low, stalk slowly, then dash forward to catch insects or small crabs. Breeding adults are brown above, with bold white wing stripe, white below with bold black spots on breast and belly. Fall birds lack black spots below, have brownish smudge at sides of breast.