The Stilt Sandpiper is a slim, elegant shorebird that seems to combine features of several others — long greenish legs like a yellowlegs, a longish, slightly drooped bill like a dowitcher, and a feeding style all its own. It often wades belly-deep in shallow water and feeds with a rapid, dowitcher-like up-and-down probing of the head, frequently submerging its bill and even its face. In breeding plumage it is heavily barred below with a distinctive rusty patch on the cheek; fall migrants are plainer gray with a pale eyebrow.
Stilt Sandpipers breed on the Arctic tundra and pass through Michigan as migrants, mainly in fall, favoring shallow marsh pools, muddy edges, flooded fields, and sewage lagoons where they can wade and probe. They often associate with dowitchers and yellowlegs, and picking out the Stilt Sandpiper — by its combination of long legs, drooped bill, and head-down probing in deeper water — is a satisfying identification. Though never abundant, it is a regular and rewarding part of the state's fall shorebird passage.
Feeds on aquatic insects and their larvae, small invertebrates, and some seeds, wading in shallow water and probing rapidly with its bill in a dowitcher-like up-and-down motion, often submerging the head. It favors shallow pools and muddy edges where it can wade belly-deep and probe the bottom.
It often wades belly-deep and probes rapidly up and down with its head, dowitcher-like, frequently submerging its bill and face. This deep-wading, head-down probing is a good behavioral clue to its identity.
Look for a slim shorebird with long greenish legs, a longish, slightly drooped bill, and (in breeding plumage) heavy barring below with a rusty ear patch. It combines a yellowlegs-like shape with dowitcher-like feeding.
Mainly as a fall migrant on shallow marsh pools, mudflats, flooded fields, and sewage lagoons, often with dowitchers and yellowlegs. It nests on the Arctic tundra and does not breed in the state.
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