Tringa nebularia

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 5,013 meters (0 to 16,447 feet).[1]

Ecology: Behaviour This species is fully migratory and generally migrates overland on a broad front, although the majority of Western European birds passes through coastal and estuarine sites1, 4. The Wadden Sea for example is used by many Fennoscandian birds as a stop-over and moulting site from late-April to mid-May1. Most palearctic birds are trans-Saharan migrants1, the main autumn passage through northern and temperate Europe occurring from the second week of July to late-October4. One parent (usually the female) leaves the breeding territory first from late-June to early July1, 4, with the other parent and juveniles following around 3-6 weeks later4. Flocks arrive in southern Africa and Australia from August to September, and depart again in March for the northward return migration1. The species departs for its breeding grounds during the evening5 and once there it breeds between late-April and June1. Some non-breeding birds may also remain in the south throughout the summer1, 4. The species normally breeds in very dispersed pairs3, but on passage it can occur singly or in small flocks (flocks of 20-25 are common in southern Africa)4, although congregations of 100 or more may very rarely occur at high tide or at roosting sites2. This species feeds both diurnally and nocturnally1. Habitat Breeding This species breeds in the boreal forest zone from sea level to 1,200 m in Norway3, 4 (although predominantly up to 450 m)4, in swampy forest clearings, woody moorland, open bogs and marshes (including raised and blanket bogs)1, and eutrophic lakes with margins of dead and decaying vegetation3. It avoids bare or broken barren expanses, mountain escarpments , and closed forests with very dense, tall vegetation4. Non-breeding In its wintering grounds this species frequents a variety of freshwater , marine and artificial wetlands, including swamps , open muddy or rocky shores of lakes and large rivers , sewage farms , saltworks, inundated rice-fields1, ponds , reservoirs4, flooded grasslands5, saltmarshes, sandy or muddy coastal flats, mangroves , estuaries1, lagoons and pools on tidal reefs4 or exposed coral2, although it generally avoids open coastline1. On migration this species occurs on inland flooded meadows, dried-up lakes, sandbars and marshes1. Diet This species is chiefly carnivorous , its diet consisting of insects and their larvae (especially beetles), crustaceans, annelids , molluscs , amphibians1, small fish (mullet Liza spp. , clinids Clinus spp. and tilapia Oreochromis spp.)5 and occasionally rodents1. Breeding site The nest is a shallow scrape on open ground, often in clearings in woods4, and is typically placed next to a piece of dead wood1, or beside rocks, trees3, fences and sticks (for use as nest markers)4.

[2].

List of Habitats :

•     1     Forest   
  
•     1.7     Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level   
  
•     4     Grassland   
  
•     4.6     Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded   
  
•     5     Wetlands (inland)   
  
•     5.1     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls )   
  
•     5.4     Wetlands (inland) - Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens , Peatlands   
  
•     5.5     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)   
  
•     5.6     Wetlands (inland) - Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)   
  
•     5.7     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)   
  
•     5.8     Wetlands (inland) - Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)   
  
•     9     Marine Neritic   
  
•     9.8     Marine Neritic - Coral Reef   
  
•     9.8.1     Outer Reef Channel   
  
•     9.8.2     Back Slope   
  
•     9.8.3     Foreslope (Outer Reef Slope)   
  
•     9.8.4     Lagoon   
  
•     9.8.5     Inter-Reef Soft Substrate   
  
•     9.8.6     Inter-Reef Rubble Substrate   
  
•     9.10     Marine Neritic - Estuaries   
  
•     12     Marine Intertidal   
  
•     12.1     Marine Intertidal - Rocky Shoreline   
  
•     12.4     Marine Intertidal - Mud Flats and Salt Flats   
  
•     12.5     Marine Intertidal - Salt Marshes (Emergent Grasses)   
  
•     12.6     Marine Intertidal - Tidepools   
  
•     13     Marine Coastal/Supratidal   
  
•     13.5     Marine Coastal/Supratidal - Coastal Freshwater Lakes   
  
•     15     Artificial/Aquatic & Marine   
  
•     15.4     Artificial/Aquatic - Salt Exploitation Sites   
  
•     15.6     Artificial/Aquatic - Wastewater Treatment Areas   
  
•     15.8     Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land   
[more info]

Biology

Migration

Migratory

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Tringa nebularia (Gunnerus, 1767)

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001

Similar Species

Greater Yellowlegs

Members of the genus Tringa

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 19 species and subspecies in this genus:

T. brevipes (Gray-Tailed Tattler) · T. cinerea (Terek Sandpiper) · T. erythropus (Spotted Redshank) · T. flavipes (Lesser Long-Legged Tattler) · T. glareola (Wood Sandpiper) · T. guttifer (NordmannÌs Greenshank) · T. hypoleucos (Common Sandpiper) · T. hypoleucos hypoleucos (Common Sandpiper) · T. incana (Wandering Tattler) · T. macularia (Spotted Sandpiper) · T. melanoleuca (Big Yellow-Legged Plover) · T. nebularia (Common Greenshank) · T. ochropus (Green Sandpiper) · T. solitaria (American Green Sandpiper) · T. solitaria cinnamomea (Solitary Sandpiper) · T. solitaria solitaria (Solitary Sandpiper) · T. stagnatilis (Marsh Sandpiper) · T. totanus (Common Sandpiper) · T. totanus totanus (Common Sandpiper)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A Directory of Neotropical Wetlands. IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre url p. 681.
• A floral and faunal inventory of the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale d'Andohahela, Madagascar: with reference to elevational variation / Steven M. Goodman, editor. 94 1999 [Chicago, Ill.]: Field Museum of Natural History, c1999. url p. 297.
• A hand-list of British birds, with an account of the distribution of each species in the British Isles and abroad. By Ernst Hartert, F. C. R. Jourdain, N. F. Ticehurst and H. F. Withersby. London, Witherby, 1912. url p. 183.
• A hand-list of genera and species of birds of the Indian empire, by E. C. Stuart Baker. .. Bombay, Printed by order of the committee of the Bombay natural history society[1923] url p. 218.
• An environmental profile of the Black Sea Coast WCMC url p. 31.
• Ardea. Amsterdam, etc., Nederlandse Ornithlogische Unie, etc. url p. 77.
• Birds from Nepal [by] Austin L. Rand [and] Robert L. Fleming. 41 1957 [Chicago]Chicago Natural History Museum, 1957. url p. 66.
• Birds of the Chukchi Peninsula and Wrangel Island = (Ptitsy Chukotskogo poluostrova i ostrova Vrangelya) / L.A. Portenko; translated from Russian [by P.M. Rao]. New Delhi: Published for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., by Amerind Pub. Co., 1981- url .
• Birds of the Philippine Islands: Siquijor, Mount Malindang, Bohol, and Samar / Austin L. Rand and Dioscoro S. Rabor. 35 1958 Chicago: Chicago Natural History Museum, 1960. url p. 327.
• British birds. London, Witherby & Co. url p. 189, p. 217, p. 270, p. 289.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 122, p. 37, p. 86.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: The Museum, 1950-1977. url p. 219, p. 220, p. 231, p. 243.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 101 1948 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url p. 118, p. 329, p. 420, p. 7, p. 7.
• Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. Charles E. Hellmayr, Boardman Conover. 13 1948 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1948. url p. 115.
• Check-list of North American birds: the species of birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands / prepared by the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Orni Lawrence, Kan.: American Ornithologists' Union, 1983. url p. 176, p. 177, p. 801.
• Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-1987. url p. 266.
• Coastal Sensitivity Overview of the Strait of Malacca. Compiled for International Maritime Organisation (IMO) IMO url .
• Directory of Wetlands of International Importance. IUCN url p. 167, p. 22, p. 236, p. 459, p. 464, p. 512, p. 582, p. 670, p. 673, p. 698, p. 750, p. 780.
• IUCN Directory of South Asian Protected Areas IUCN url p. 122, p. 124, p. 293.
• Ibis. [London]Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press. url p. 192, p. 258, p. 312, p. 321, p. 382, p. 428, p. 511, p. 611, p. 616, p. 698.
• Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society: official publication of the Coryndon Memorial Museum (Museum Trustees of Kenya). Nairobi, Kenya: The Museum, 1942-[1960] url p. 166, p. 7.
• MAB Biosphere Reserves: Site Descriptions, post compilation 5 (October 1990) UNESCO MAB Programme url .
• Madagascar: an environmental profile IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre url p. 176.
• Mangroves of Western and Central Africa. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 26 UNEP-WCMC, UNEP url p. 41.
• Marine turtles in Baluchistan: report on a aerial survey, 9-11 September 1988 with notes on wetland sites and a proposed marine turtle conservation project WCMC url p. 13.
• Nature Reserves of the Himalaya and the Mountains of Central Asia IUCN url p. 211, p. 269, p. 471.
• Oil spill sensitivity of the western Indian Ocean islands: coastal data from the Comoros Islands, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles WCMC url p. 60.
• Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Sydney, Linnean Society of New South Wales. url p. 325, p. 409, p. 422.
• Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Mosman, New South Wales [etc.]The Society. url p. 11, p. 16.
• Reports and transactions. Cardiff [etc. url p. 54.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 151 1966 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 18, p. 28, p. 52.
• Special scientific report--wildlife / U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service, 1949- url p. 115, p. 116, p. 118, p. 119, p. 134, p. 135, p. 166, p. 174, p. 216, p. 218, p. 23, p. 274, p. 277, p. 281, p. 295, p. 298, p. 321, p. 369, p. 447, p. 569, p. 57, p. 643, p. 79.
• Station bulletin. Durham, N.H.: Agricultural Experiment Station, University of New Hampshire, 1948- url p. 16.
• Syllogeus. Ottawa, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 1972-1995. url p. 14.
• The Auk. Washington, D.C.: American Ornithologists' Union, etc., 1884- url p. 281, p. 513.
• The Canadian field-naturalist. Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. url p. 611.
• The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Bombay: The Society, url p. 728, p. 865.
• The Marine Mammal Commission compendium of selected treaties, international agreements, and other relevant documents on marine resources, wildlife, and the environment / compiled by Richard L. Wallace. Washington, D.C.: The Commission; 1994 url p. 3127, p. 3482.
• The Scottish naturalist. Arbroath [etc.]T. Buncle & Co. [etc.] url , p. 136, p. 137, p. 195.
• The birds of southeastern Madagascar / Steven M. Goodman. .. [et al.]. 87 1997 [Chicago, Ill.]: Field Museum of Natural History, c1997. url table 8 , p. 132, p. 39, p. 96.
• University of Kansas publications, Museum of Natural History. 3 1951 Lawrence, University of Kansas. url p. 141, p. 24, p. 35, p. 37.

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2009. Tringa nebularia. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 05February2012.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 12, 2007:

• Biologiezentrum der Oberoesterreichischen Landesmuseen, Biologiezentrum Linz
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• OZCAM
• Provider, Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums
• The Danish Biodiversity Information Facility, Western Palearctic migrants in continental Africa
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
• , Bird specimens
• Upper Silesian Museum, Bytom, Upper Silesian Museum, Bird Observations

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 8126
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-176624
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 2481685
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 176624
• IUCN ID: 247159
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABNNF01010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 13692

Footnotes

1. Mean = 638.600 meters (2,095.144 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,174.600 based on 22,399 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
2. BirdLife International 2009. Tringa nebularia. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 05 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.