Common name for many members of the family Scolopacidae (order Charadriiformes), usually in some such combination (e.g., Wood Sandpiper), and in plural the general term for the whole family. They are a family of ground-dwelling wading birds, sizing from small to moderately large (12.5 to 60 cm long) with long wings and often long legs and bills. Normally they frequent open land and the vicinity of water, where they find their usual diet of small animals, mainly invertebrates. The greater part of the family members are natives of the northern hemisphere, the majority breeding at high latitudes.

Alternative forms for sandpipers : Calidris, Limicola, sandpiper.