Dipper
Actitis macularius (Linnaeus, 1766)
Status not recordedbirds
The dipper (Actitis macularius) is a species in the family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 36.9 g to 47.3 g and live up to 12 years.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the dipper
- Weight
- 36.9 g – 47.3 g
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 12 years
- Diet
- Aquatic predator
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetland
- Egg incubation
- 20.5 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4
- Age at maturity
- 12 months
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.76
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Migration
- Migratory
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the dipper live?
Not recorded
Is the dipper endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the dipper classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyScolopacidae
- genusActitis
- SpeciesActitis macularius (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms Actites macularia, Actitis lunata, Actitis macularia, Actitis macularia macularia, Actitis macularis, Totanus macularius, Tringa maculacia, Tringa macularia, Tringa macularia macularia
Other names and names in other languages (78)
- Spotted sandpiperEnglish
- SpottyEnglish
- Teeter-peepEnglish
- TeeterpeepEnglish
- Tip-upEnglish
- Weather birdEnglish
- طيطوي منقطArabic
- Петнист кюкавецBulgarian
- Bistroll brizhellekBreton
- xivitona maculadaCatalan
- Oisík americkýCzech
- Pibydd BrychWelsh
- plettet mudderklireDanish
- DrosseluferläuferGerman
- Κηλιδωτός ΑκτίτηςGreek
- makula tringoEsperanto
- AlzacolitaSpanish
- ameerika vihitaja e. ameerika jõgitilderEstonian
- یلوه خالمخالیPersian
- amerikansipiFinnish
- FlekkustelkurFaroese
- Chevalier griveléFrench
- Gobadán breacIrish
- Batmargcf
- Bilurico maculadoGalician
- Leayrane breckManx
- Mbatui mbataraGuarani
- Bekasin zèl tranbleHaitian Creole
- ביצנית נקודהHebrew
- pjegava prutkaCroatian
- pettyes cankóHungarian
- DílastelkurIcelandic
- Piro piro macchiatoItalian
- アメリカイソシギJapanese
- Demetasis krantinis tilvikasLithuanian
- punktainā tilbīteLatvian
- Tábąąsdísí áłtsʼíísíNavajo
- flekksnipeNorwegian Bokmål
- Amerikaanse oeverloperDutch
- Jiidawenh (Jiichiishkishii)Ojibwa
- Snepi Barika PintáPapiamento
- brodziec plamistyPolish
- maçarico-pintadoPortuguese
- MuyusikiQuechua
- Privaun ticlàRomansh
- Пятнистый перевозчикRussian
- AmerihkágáddevirošNorthern Sami
- kalužiačik škvrnitýSlovak
- ameriški mali martinecSlovenian
- Pegava polojkaSerbian
- fläckdrillsnäppaSwedish
- Benekli DüdükçünTurkish
- набережник плямистийUkrainian
- 斑鷸Chinese
- pisík americkýCzech
- Pibyddion BrychWelsh
- Punkta tringoEsperanto
- Andarríos maculadoSpanish
- Andarríos manchadoSpanish
- PirrisaSpanish
- Playerito ManchadoSpanish
- Playero alzacolitaSpanish
- Playero coleadorSpanish
- Playero manchadoSpanish
- Ameerika vihitajaEstonian
- AmerikanrantasipiFinnish
- Gobadán ballachIrish
- בצנית ברודהHebrew
- pettyes billegetőcankóHungarian
- Piro-piro macchiatoItalian
- dėmėtasis krantinis tilvikasLithuanian
- Amerikas upes tilbīteLatvian
- maçarico-maculadoPortuguese
- dielkogáddevirošNorthern Sami
- dielkovirošNorthern Sami
- amerikansk drillsnäppaSwedish
- 斑腹矶鹬Chinese
- 斑腹磯鷸Chinese
Relatives of the dipper
Other species in the same genus Actitis.

Common sandpiper
Actitis hypoleucos
CompareDipper vs Common sandpiperDipper vs Actitis balcanica
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the dipper?
An adult dipper weighs 36.9 g – 47.3 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the dipper live?
The dipper has a recorded lifespan of 12 years.
What kind of animal is the dipper?
The dipper (Actitis macularius) belongs to the family Scolopacidae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Dipper (Actitis macularius). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/dipper
“Dipper (Actitis macularius).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/dipper.
@misc{dipper_2026,
title = {Dipper (Actitis macularius)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/dipper},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}