High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the Spotted Sandpiper (A. macularia), make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize. Hybridization has also been reported between the Common Sandpiper and the Green Sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related shank genus Tringa.