Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis Scientific name definitions

22–26 cm; 43–120 g; wingspan 55–59 cm. Small body, long legs and straightish, needle-like bill; looks like small, fine T. nebularia; wings dark, rump and back white, face pale; upperparts strongly spotted and blotched with greyish cinnamon and black-brown; foreneck , breast and flanks with black markings. Female averages slightly larger. Non-breeding adult has plain grey upperparts with narrow white fringes and contrasting dark wing-coverts; face and underparts white. Juvenile as non-breeding, but upperparts browner with buff spots and fringes.

E Romania, E Ukraine and W Russia through N Kazakhstan and S Siberia to Transbaikalia, NE China (Heilongjiang) and Ussuriland; isolated populations in Baltic States W to Poland. Winters from Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa through Persian Gulf and S Asia to Indonesia and Australia.

Steppe and boreal wetlands, far inland, preferably in open marshland with fresh grassy cover; brackish shallow marshes; less frequently around salt lakes. Outside breeding season, occurs typically at margins of inland fresh to brackish wetlands, including paddyfields, swamps, saltpans, saltmarshes, sewage farms, estuaries, lagoons and intertidal mudflats; avoids open beaches. Recorded to 2880 m in Ethiopia (1 Ash, J. S., and J. Atkins (2009). Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea: An Atlas of Distribution. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). On migration often feeds alongside T. nebularia.

Migratory. Generally scarce at stopover sites and many birds fly long distances overland on broad front. Main passage from Russia occurs E of Black Sea, through Kazakhstan and Middle East towards E & S Africa; few birds cross Slovakia, Hungary, Balkans, Italy and E Mediterranean; less common, though regular, through W Europe . Nile Valley in Sudan frequently used as stopover, whereafter Sahara is crossed diagonally to W & WC African wintering grounds, where present Sept to early May. Some evidence of birds returning to same wintering sites (2 Sauvage, A., Rumsey, S. and Rodwell, S. (1998). Recurrence of Palaearctic birds in the lower Senegal river valley. Malimbus. 20(1): 33–53. Close ). In E Asia, passes through C Mongolia, C, NE & coastal China (Yellow R Delta), Korea (only on S migration), Japan, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Malaysia and Sumatra. In E Australia, may move away from coast after rains, and, as in C Australia, disperse among temporary inland wetlands. Most non-breeders stay in winter quarters or at intermediate sites during N summer. Vagrants recorded widely, including Alaska (eight records, all from the Aleutians and Pribilofs), Hawaii, Baja California (3 Howell, S. N. G., I. Lewington, and W. Russell (2014). Rare Birds of North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), the Azores, Cape Verde Is, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius (4 Safford, R.J. and Basque, R. (2007). Records of migrants and amendments to the status of exotics on Mauritius in 1989–93. Bull. Afr. Bird Club. 14(1): 26–35. Close , 5 Safford, R. J., and A. F. A. Hawkins, Editors (2013). The Birds of Africa. Volume 8. The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), Maldives, Palau (perhaps regular) (6 VanderWerf, E.A., Wiles, G.J., Marshall, A.P. and Knecht, M. (2006). Observations of migrants and other birds in Palau, April-May 2005, including the first Micronesian record of a Richard’s Pipit. Micronesica 39(1):11–29. Close ) and Melanesia (probably regular in tiny numbers) (7 Dutson, G. (2011). Birds of Melanesia: The Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Diet not well known, but includes at least small fish, crustaceans, molluscs and many insects, mostly aquatic, sometimes terrestrial; occasionally plant material. Often feeds in shallow water, pecking from water surface, while walking steadily and briskly; may glean from vegetation; sometimes probes, jabs or sweeps bill through water; rarely swims. When feeding on fish, may forage socially in dense flock of conspecifics or mixed with other species of Tringa, moving erratically while pecking at prey or running synchronously in one direction while ploughing or scything bill through water; also recorded following ducks, egrets and other waders, feeding on prey disturbed by activity of other birds. Feeds singly or in flocks of up to several 100s.

Song, given during display flights (see Breeding), a repeated “tu-ee-u tu-ee-u” or a melodious and far-carrying “tyurlyu tyurlyu”. In alarm utters a sharp, Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)-like “chip”, while on passage the most-frequently heard call is an irregularly repeated, metallic, sharp “tew”, especially in flight or on take-off.

Lays late Apr to Jun. Probably monogamous. Solitary or in loose colonies; frequently together with marsh terns (Chlidonias), T. totanus, Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) or Limosa limosa; in W Siberia, also shares breeding habitat with Gallinago gallinago and G. media. Display flights initiated shortly after arrival on breeding grounds, with male spending majority of each day displaying, in which it ascends 15–80 m above ground before commencing wide-circling switchback flights, then glides down to ground while singing (8 Snow, D. W., and C. M. Perrins, Editors (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Concise Edition. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ). Single-brooded (9 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ). Nest a shallow depression (c. 82 mm wide by 60 mm deep) placed on mound, in short vegetation, close to water; usually filled with dry grass. Clutch four eggs (3–5), cream to buff with reddish-brown or blackish-brown markings, mean size 38·5 mm × 26·9 mm (9 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); both sexes incubate and tend brood, but periods unknown; incubation commences with final egg (9 Harrison, C. J. O., and P. Castell (2002). Bird Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Second revised edition. HarperCollins, London, UK. Close ); downy chick creamy buff above with blackish-brown markings (pattern similar to T. totanus), face, chin and belly almost white. Age of first breeding one year or older.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Population of W African and Palearctic winterers c. 100,000 birds; in E Africa and SW Asia 25,000–100,000 birds; SC Asia in order of 100,000 birds, with important sites in SW India and Sri Lanka; E & SE Asia c. 90,000 birds, with up to 39,000 estimated to use staging ground on Chinese shores of Yellow Sea (10 Barter, M. A. (2002). Shorebirds of the Yellow Sea: importance, threats and conservation status. Wetlands International Global Series 9, International Wader Studies 12, Canberra, Australia. Close ); estimated 9000 birds in Australia, where SE Gulf of Carpentaria is most important site, with 1150 birds and up to 500 occur in N Western Australia (11 Minton, C. D. T., and R. J. Chandler (1996). Palearctic waders in Western Australia. British Birds 89(4):177–184. Close ). Little known about population trends, but breeding range in W Palearctic was probably shrinking, having disappeared as breeder from Austria, Hungary and Slovakia (8 Snow, D. W., and C. M. Perrins, Editors (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Concise Edition. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), as result of losses of steppe habitat due to agricultural intensification; egg-collecting might also have played a role. However, on plus side, started breeding in Latvia in 1974 (where 10–30 pairs recorded in 1980s) and in Poland in 1988 (fewer than five pairs), with occasional evidence of nesting in Belarus (since 1996), Denmark (first 1986), Finland (first breeding record in 1983) (8 Snow, D. W., and C. M. Perrins, Editors (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Concise Edition. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ) and Germany (once, in 2012) (12 van den Berg, A. B., and M. Haas (2012). WP reports. Dutch Birding 34(4):255–265. Close ). Since 1960s, northward expansion of breeding range in Russia, with first recorded nesting around Moscow in 1966 and St Petersburg in 1986 (8 Snow, D. W., and C. M. Perrins, Editors (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Concise Edition. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ), although recently some Russian breeding populations declining in Caspian and Aral Sea regions, e.g. around Volga-Kama confluence and Orenburg. In E Russia, breeding range has expanded S as result of agricultural development. In Kharkov, NE Ukraine, amount of rain in spring affects numbers of breeding birds.