Charadriiformes / Scolopacidae / Tringa
Grey-tailed Tattler
Tringa brevipes · 灰尾漂鹬
Introduction
A small shorebird in the genus Tringa. It breeds in northeast Siberia and migrates to wintering grounds from southeast Asia to Australia. Distinctive traits include unpatterned greyish wings and back, a scaly breast pattern in breeding plumage, and the ability to perch in trees.
Description
Resembles common redshanks in shape and size. Upper parts, underwings, face, and neck are grey; belly is white. Legs are short and yellowish. The bill has a pale base and dark tip. A weak supercilium is present. In breeding plumage, the breast shows a scaly pattern extending onto the belly.
Identification
Difficult to distinguish from the wandering tattler. Both share unpatterned greyish wings and back. Key distinctions include the length of the nasal groove and scaling on the tarsus. The most reliable identification feature is vocalization: this species produces a disyllabic whistle, whereas the wandering tattler emits a rippling trill.
Distribution & Habitat
Breeds in stony riverbeds in northeast Siberia. Strongly migratory, wintering on muddy and sandy coasts from southeast Asia to Australia. Very rare vagrant to western North America and western Europe.
Behavior & Ecology
Nests on the ground but perches in trees, sometimes using old nests of other birds. Forages on the ground or in water, picking up food by sight. Diet consists of insects, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Not particularly gregarious; seldom seen in large flocks except at roosts.
Conservation
Listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988). On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, it is listed as critically endangered. Not listed as threatened on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Taxonomy
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
- Genus
- Tringa
Distribution
breeds montane tundra of Krasnoyarsk (west-central Siberia) and Yana River eastward to Kamchatka (eastern Siberia); winters muddy to sandy Pacific coasts from Malay Peninsula eastward through Micronesia and western Polynesia and southward to northern Australia
Data Sources
CBR Notes: IUCN红色名录等级由NT降为LC
Species description from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Bird images and sounds sourced from GBIF, contributed by citizen scientists worldwide under Creative Commons licenses.
Taxonomy data from AviList 2025.
