The upland sandpiper is 11.0-12.6 inches (28-32 cm) in length with a wingspan of 18.5 inches (47 cm).
It has long, yellow legs; long wings; large eyes; a sharp, pointed, black-tipped yellow bill; a small head; and a long neck. It is speckled brown on top and white with brown spots and bars on its chest and belly.
Unlike other sandpipers and plovers, the upland sandpiper prefers dry grasslands over wetlands. It is sometimes called the “shorebird of the prairie.” It lives on open prairies, grasslands, pastures, wet meadows, and hayfields.
Its numbers have sharply declined since the late 1800s due to hunting and habitat loss.
The upland sandpiper eats a wide variety of invertebrates, including grasshoppers, crickets, ants, beetles, moths, weevils, flies, centipedes, millipedes, spiders, snails, and earthworms. It also eats some grains and seeds.
The upland sandpiper reaches its breeding grounds in late April or early May. During courtship, the male circles over the breeding ground and calls out with a whistling song. The male and female create a nesting spot by scraping out a depression in the ground. The nest is made under a bush or in a clump of grass. Sometimes, grass is pulled down over the nest to help hide it.
The female lays 4 eggs, and both the male and the female incubate the eggs. The chicks hatch in 21-27 days and fledge when they are a month old. The chicks are precocial and start hunting insects shortly after birth.
The oldest upland sandpiper on record lived to be at least 8 years, 11 months old.
The upland sandpiper often perches on fence posts, stumps, or telephone poles. When frightened, it runs a short distance and then freezes in an attempt to blend into its background.
The upland sandpiper is also called the grass plover and the upland plover.
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The upland sandpiper is endangered in New Hampshire. It is not native to the state, but likely arrived in the state in the 1800s after forest clearing opened up habitat where it could thrive.
All of the nesting upland sandpipers in New England are found at airports.
In New Hampshire, they nest at Pease Airfield and the surrounding grasslands in Portsmouth and Newington.
The upland sandpiper breeds from Alaska east to New Brunswick, Canada, and south to northeastern Oregon, Oklahoma, and Virginia.
It winters on the pampas (prairie) of southern South America from Brazil to Argentina.
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