#1052 · 🐦 birds
Least Sandpiper
🇳🇱 Kleinste Strandloper ·Calidris minutilla
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Greg Lasley · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Fabrizio Migliore · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © David Bird · CC0
- 4. © Kyle Tansley · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Greg Lasley · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Nick Chill · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 7. © Maxwell Julius · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © sergio1953 · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Ad Konings · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Dave Spier · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
what is it?
The least sandpiper ( Calidris minutilla ) is the smallest shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris , a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific minutilla is Medieval Latin for "very small".
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 72,964 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1819 (207 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Least Sandpiper
- Nederlands
- Kleinste Strandloper
- scientific name
- Calidris minutilla
- class
- Aves
- order
- Charadriiformes
- family
- Scolopacidae
- IUCN Red List
- NT · near threatened
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 35
- sightings worldwide
- 72,964
- GBIF records in NL
- 1
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1819 by Louis Pierre Vieillot
IUCN in Dutch: gevoelig. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Scolopacidae
#0570 📷 10Common Redshank
🇳🇱 Tureluur
Tringa totanus
LC 👀 1.9k in NL
#0574 📷 10Black-tailed Godwit
🇳🇱 Grutto
Limosa limosa
NT 👀 1.6k in NL
#0583 📷 8Ruddy Turnstone
🇳🇱 Steenloper
Arenaria interpres
NT 👀 1.3k in NL
#0586 📷 10Eurasian Curlew
🇳🇱 Wulp
Numenius arquata
NT 👀 1.2k in NL
#0599 📷 8Sanderling
🇳🇱 Drieteenstrandloper
Calidris alba
LC 👀 914 in NL
#0602 📷 8Ruff
🇳🇱 Kemphaan
Calidris pugnax
LC 👀 848 in NL
#0615 📷 8Common Snipe
🇳🇱 Watersnip
Gallinago gallinago
LC 👀 582 in NL
#0623 📷 10Common Sandpiper
🇳🇱 Oeverloper
Actitis hypoleucos
LC 👀 481 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 3864, Wikidata Q913052, GBIF 2481745, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.