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India’s Common Sandpiper Index Fell 40.2% Over the Long Term and 2.7% Per Year Recently

Common sandpiper walking on a muddy riverbank in Uttar Pradesh, India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update to State of India’s Birds, released on 6 May 2026, estimated a substantial national decline in the abundance index for common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos). The updated long-term estimate was −40.2%.

The current annual trend was also negative at −2.7% per year. Both updated estimates therefore clearly supported a decline.

A winter migrant strongly associated with wetlands

State of India’s Birds classifies common sandpiper as a winter migrant and wetland specialist in India. The updated analysis estimated its national distribution range at 2,160,368 km². Its national conservation priority remains Moderate under the assessment framework carried forward from the 2023 report.

The new figures came from a much larger dataset

The 2025 update used about 48 million eBird observations available through 31 May 2025, compared with 30 million in the 2023 assessment. It also introduced an improved uncertainty-estimation procedure and more robust subsampling.

The abundance trends are derived from changes in frequency of reporting on complete bird lists. They therefore describe changes in an abundance index rather than a direct count of individual common sandpipers.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status – 2025 interim update (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary interim release, created 6 May 2026; numerical DRS, LTT and CAT values updated for 942 species using 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) factsheet: 2025 update.India-wide 2025-update values: LTT −40.17% (95% CI −45.63 to −33.92), CAT −2.71%/year (95% CI −3.21 to −2.20), DRS 2,160,368 km²; winter migrant, wetland specialist, Moderate priority.
  3. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). Interpreting State of India’s Birds results.Methodological guidance for interpreting the abundance index and the 2025 numerical update.

Image: Common sandpiper walking on a muddy riverbank in Uttar Pradesh, India. Photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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