Gray-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes Scientific name definitions

23–27 cm; 80–162 g; wingspan 60–65 cm (1 Brazil, M. (2009). Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia: Eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Short yellow legs and darkish grey upperparts . Very similar to T. incana, but slightly paler and shorter-winged; barred paler grey on neck, breast and flanks, with more white on belly and vent; shorter nasal groove and scutellated rear edge to tarsus; best identified by Voice (which see). Female averages larger. Non-breeding adult has greyish-white flanks. Juvenile like non-breeding adult, but has whitish spots on upperparts.

NC & NE Siberia in Putorana Mts, and from Verkhoyansk Mts and Transbaikalia E to Anadyrland and Kamchatka and probably also N Kuril Is. Winters from Taiwan, Malay Peninsula and Philippines S through Indonesia, New Guinea and Solomon Is to Australia, a few reaching New Zealand; also Fiji and Tuvalu.

Breeds in N montane taiga and forest tundra, along rivers and streams, and on stone or pebble shorelines of lakes; up to 1800 m (3 Neufeldt, I., Krechmar, A.V. and Ivanov, A.I. (1961). Studies of less familiar birds. 110. Grey-rumped Sandpiper. British Birds. 54(1): 30–33. Close ). In non-breeding season on sheltered coasts with reefs and rock platforms or with intertidal mudflats; also shores of rock, shingle, gravel or shells; often roosts in mangroves, and may perch for roosting; prefers areas with dense beds of seagrass. On migration may occur at inland wetlands, such as paddyfields; exclusively coastal in Australia . Frequents a wider range of environments than T. incana.

Migratory. Migration mainly coastal, but sometimes on inland wetlands, even rivers. On passage, occurs on Bering Sea islands, W & C Aleutian Is, Kuril Is, Korea, Japan, NE China, Hong Kong and Philippines; some birds cross Mongolia and C China; also some movement across SW Pacific; probably two migration routes into Australia , either side of New Guinea. Migrates in Jul–mid Oct and Mar–late May. Estimated to be capable of flying non-stop from NW Australia to Philippines or S China. Most departures from N Australia late Mar to late Apr. Most first-years remain in S during boreal summer. Vagrant to Britain (Wales, Oct–Nov 1981; Scotland, Nov–Dec 1994) (4 Thorpe, R.I. (1995). Grey-tailed Tattler in Wales: new to Britain and Ireland. British Birds. 88(6): 255–262. Close , 5 Stenning, J. and Hirst, P. (1994). The Grey-tailed Tattler in Grampian – the second Western Palearctic record. Birding World. 7(12): 469–472. Close ), Netherlands (Jul 2010) (6 Piek, A. and Slaterus, R. (2010). Siberische Grijze Ruiter bij IJmuiden in juli 251151. Dutch Birding. 32(5): 320–323. Close ), Sweden (Jul 2003), islands in Indian Ocean (Seychelles, four records, all months (7 Safford, R. J., and A. F. A. Hawkins, Editors (2013). The Birds of Africa. Volume 8. The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); Mauritius, late 1989–Mar 1990, Dec 1990–Feb 1991 (8 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 ); Rodrigues, Apr 1999 (9 Showler, D.A. (2002). Bird observations on the Indian Ocean islands of Rodriguez, March–June 1999. Bull. Afr. Bird Club 9(1): 16–24. Close ); Chagos Is, six records, in all months and all since 1995) (10 Carr, P. (2015). Birds of the British Indian Ocean Territory, Chagos archipelago, central Indian Ocean. Indian Birds 10(3–4):57–70. Close ), Amsterdam I (Oct–Nov 1973) (11 Roux, J.P. and Martinez, J. (1987). Rare, vagrant and introduced birds at Amsterdam and Saint Paul Islands, southern Indian Ocean. Cormorant. 14(1–2): 3–19. Close ), India (Goa, Feb 2002) (12 Robson, C. (2002). From the field. Bull. Oriental Bird Club 35: 83–93. Close ), Bangladesh (five records, first mid-May 1989, all in spring) (13 Thompson, P. M., W. G. Harvey, D. L. Johnson, D. J. Millin, S. M. A. Rashid, D. A. Scott, C. Stanfield, and J. D. Woolner (1993). Recent notable bird records from Bangladesh. Forktail 9: 13–44. Close , 14 Thompson, P. M., and D. L. Johnson (2003). Further notable bird records from Bangladesh. Forktail 19:85–102. Close ) and in lower 48 states of USA (Washington, Sept 1975; California, Jul 1981, May 1998; Massachusetts, Oct 2012) (15 Howell, S. N. G., I. Lewington, and W. Russell (2014). Rare Birds of North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ).

Diet on breeding grounds includes insects, e.g. beetles, mosquitoes, springtails and aquatic larvae of flies, sometimes caught in flight (3 Neufeldt, I., Krechmar, A.V. and Ivanov, A.I. (1961). Studies of less familiar birds. 110. Grey-rumped Sandpiper. British Birds. 54(1): 30–33. Close ). Crabs form large part of non-breeding diet; also other crustaceans, polychaetes, molluscs, insects and occasionally fish. Often teeters and runs during feeding; mostly pecks, sometimes probes in shallow water; large prey detected visually. Crabs often washed on water’s edge. Usually forages singly or in loose groups.

Highly distinctive compared to similar T. incana. A loud, rich whistle of two notes and up to three syllables, which recalls Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) or Pacific Golden Plover (P. fulva), e.g. “pyu-ii”, “tuuwheet” or “tuee-dee”, and which can be run together to form a series. Also a strident “klee”.

Breeds late May–late Aug, arriving when breeding areas are still snow- and ice-covered (3 Neufeldt, I., Krechmar, A.V. and Ivanov, A.I. (1961). Studies of less familiar birds. 110. Grey-rumped Sandpiper. British Birds. 54(1): 30–33. Close ). Display reportedly very like that of T. nebularia and regularly perches on branches (3 Neufeldt, I., Krechmar, A.V. and Ivanov, A.I. (1961). Studies of less familiar birds. 110. Grey-rumped Sandpiper. British Birds. 54(1): 30–33. Close ). Nest a shallow depression, lined with grass, often on stony riverbed; sometimes in deserted nests in trees. Usually four eggs; sexes share care of young. No further information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Total population 25,000–100,000 birds in 1987–1991 (of which 11,000 wintered in N Western Australia) (16 Minton, C. D. T., and R. J. Chandler (1996). Palearctic waders in Western Australia. British Birds 89(4):177–184. Close ), 44,000 in 2007–2009 Wetlands International (2014). "Waterbird Population Estimates" . Retrieved from wpe.wetlands.org on Tuesday 29 Jul 2014. . Uplisted to Near Threatened in 2014, based on evidence of moderately rapid population decline (17 Garnett, S. T., J. K. Szabo, and G. Dutson (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ) BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Tringa brevipes. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/07/2014. , driven by ongoing habitat loss and degradation, disturbance and hunting pressure, with obvious declines registered at certain stopover localities in China between mid 1980s and early 2000s (18 Zhen-ming Ge, Tian-hou Wang, Xiao Zhou, Kai-Yun Wang and Wen-yu Shi (2007). Changes in the spatial distribution of migratory shorebirds along the Shanghai shoreline, China, between 1984 and 21191194. Emu. 107(1): 19–27. Close ). Wintering population in Australia estimated at 36,000 birds; in 1989, total of 22,052 individuals recorded at Moreton Bay, SE Queensland; large numbers occur on Eighty Mile Beach and in Great Sandy Strait. Some 100s winter in Philippines and species is also considered common in parts of Melanesia (e.g. Bismarcks and Solomons) (19 Dutson, G. (2011). Birds of Melanesia: The Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Main threats at stopover sites and on wintering grounds are loss and degradation of wetlands by pollution, reclamation, and urban and industrial expansion, as well as disturbance and hunting (17 Garnett, S. T., J. K. Szabo, and G. Dutson (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ) BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Tringa brevipes. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/07/2014. .