Sandpipers mostly eat tiny animals they find in wet sand and mud, plus a bit of plant material when they have to.

Quick Scoop: What do sandpipers eat?

Sandpipers are primarily carnivores , picking small invertebrates from beaches, mudflats, and shallow water. Their exact menu changes with habitat and season, but the core diet is pretty consistent across most species.

Main foods (their everyday menu)

  • Marine worms (especially polychaete and other annelid worms).
  • Small crustaceans: sand crabs, tiny crabs, amphipods, shrimp.
  • Mollusks: snails, periwinkles, small clams.
  • Insects and larvae: flies, beetles, mayflies, grasshoppers, crickets.
  • Spiders and other small arthropods.

On beaches, you’ll often see them probing the wet sand with their bills, digging out worms, tiny crabs, clams, and other buried invertebrates.

Extra items (backup and seasonal foods)

When their favorite animal prey is scarce, some sandpipers also eat a little plant material.

  • Seeds and grains (including things like rice in fields).
  • Berries and small fruits.
  • Tender plant shoots.
  • Biofilm – a thin, nutritious slime layer on wet sand that can make up a surprisingly large share of the diet in some species (like Western Sandpipers).

How they find and eat their food

  • They probe soft mud or sand with sensitive bills, often in very shallow water only about an inch deep.
  • They peck rapidly at the surface, grabbing insects and other tiny creatures they detect by touch or sight.
  • For clams and similar prey, they use the bill to work the shell open and pick out the meat.

So, if you’re thinking about “what do sandpipers eat,” the short answer is: mostly small worms, crustaceans, mollusks, and insects, with a side of seeds, berries, and biofilm when needed.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.