Upland Sandpiper

I spotted this sandpiper on a fence post on my farm in southeast Kansas. According to the map, we are right on the line between breeding and migration for this beautiful bird.

A shorebird of grasslands, not shores, the Upland Sandpiper inhabits native prairie and other open grassy areas in North America. Once abundant in the Great Plains, it has undergone steady population declines since the mid-19th century, because of hunting and loss of habitat.