Sandpipers & Snipes in Western Sahara
Our list for Western Sahara has 18 sandpipers & snipes recorded regularly there: 5 winter visitors, 7 passage migrants and 6 scarce visitors
All 18, most common first
RedshankTringa totanusWinter visitorCommon27–29 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
DunlinCalidris alpinaWinter visitorCommon16–22 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
Bar-tailed GodwitLimosa lapponicaWinter visitorCommon37–41 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucosPassage migrantCommon18–20 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
Grey PhalaropePhalaropus fulicariusScarceCommon20–22 cm
Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresPassage migrantCommon21–24 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
SanderlingCalidris albaWinter visitorCommon18–20 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
WhimbrelNumenius phaeopusWinter visitorCommon40–46 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
GreenshankTringa nebulariaPassage migrantCommon30–35 cmRegularly Dec–Apr
Little StintCalidris minutaPassage migrantCommon13–15 cmRegularly Mar
Black-tailed GodwitLimosa limosaPassage migrantCommon40–44 cmRegularly Feb
Red KnotCalidris canutusScarceCommon23–26 cm
RuffCalidris pugnaxScarceCommon20–32 cm
Curlew SandpiperCalidris ferrugineaPassage migrantCommon18–23 cmRegularly Mar–Apr
Green SandpiperTringa ochropusScarceCommon21–24 cm
CurlewNumenius arquataPassage migrantCommon50–60 cmRegularly Feb–Mar
Spotted RedshankTringa erythropusScarceUncommon29–31 cm
Common SnipeGallinago gallinagoScarceUncommon25–27 cm
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Little Stint 13–15 cm
- Dunlin 16–22 cm
- Common Sandpiper 18–20 cm
- Sanderling 18–20 cm
- Curlew Sandpiper 18–23 cm
- Grey Phalarope 20–22 cm
- Ruddy Turnstone 21–24 cm
- Green Sandpiper 21–24 cm
- Red Knot 23–26 cm
- Ruff 20–32 cm
- Common Snipe 25–27 cm
- Redshank 27–29 cm
- Spotted Redshank 29–31 cm
- Greenshank 30–35 cm
- Bar-tailed Godwit 37–41 cm
- Black-tailed Godwit 40–44 cm
- Whimbrel 40–46 cm
- Curlew 50–60 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made