Least Sandpiper | Playerito Menudo (Calidris minutilla) on Flickr.
Location: Unare Lagoon, Anzoátegui, Venezuela The smallest shorebird. This species has greenish legs and a short, thin, dark bill. Breeding adults are brown with dark brown streaks on top and white underneath. They have a light line above the eye and a dark crown. In winter, Least sandpipers are grey above. The juveniles are brightly patterned above with rufous colouration and white mantle stripes. Their breeding habitat is the northern North American continent on tundra or in bogs. They nest on the ground near water. The female lays four eggs in a shallow scrape lined with grass and moss. Both parents incubate; the female leaves before the young birds fledge and sometimes before the eggs hatch. The young birds feed themselves and are able to fly within two weeks of birth. They migrate in flocks to the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_sandpiper












