The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is a gentle-looking, warm-toned shorebird that, like the Upland Sandpiper, prefers dry short-grass fields to wet mudflats. Uniformly buff below and on the face, with a small dark eye standing out on a plain face, a short bill, and yellow legs, it has a mild, dovelike expression and an upright, dainty carriage as it forages over sod farms, airfields, and grassy shorelines. In flight it flashes white wing linings, and it walks steadily through the grass picking up insects.
Buff-breasted Sandpipers breed on the high Arctic tundra, where males gather at communal display grounds (leks) and raise their wings to show off the white underwings to females — a courtship system unusual among shorebirds. They are long-distance migrants to southern South America and pass through the interior, reaching Michigan chiefly in fall on grassy habitats. The species was heavily hunted in the past and has declined with the loss of grassland, and it is now assessed as Near Threatened, making each buffy autumn visitor a bird of real conservation interest.
Feeds on insects and other small invertebrates, along with some seeds, gleaned by walking steadily over short-grass fields, sod farms, and dry shorelines rather than probing wet mud. It forages in the manner of a plover or Upland Sandpiper, picking prey from the ground and low vegetation.
Look for a warm buff shorebird with a plain buff face, a prominent dark eye, a small bill, and yellow legs, feeding on dry short-grass ground. Its gentle expression and preference for grassy fields over mudflats are distinctive.
Males gather at communal display grounds (leks) on the Arctic tundra and raise their wings to flash white underwings at females, a lek mating system that is unusual among shorebirds.
Heavy market hunting in the past and ongoing loss of grassland habitat have reduced its numbers, and it is now assessed as Near Threatened. It favors short-grass fields, sod farms, and airfields on migration through Michigan, chiefly in fall.
Juveniles have crisply pale-fringed back feathers giving a scaled look, and most Michigan records in late summer are juveniles. The plain buff face with a large dark eye is present at all ages.
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