Wood sandpiper

The wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola) is a small wader.

This Eurasian species is the smallest of the shanks,
which are mid-sized long-legged waders of the family
Scolopacidae.

Description and systematics

It resembles a longer-legged and more delicate green (T.

ochropus) or solitary sandpiper (T. solitaria) with a short
ne bill, brown back and longer yellowish legs. It diers
from the rst of those species in a smaller and less contrasting white rump patch, while the solitary sandpiper
has no white rump patch at all.[2]
However, it is not very closely related to these two species.
Rather, its closest relative is the common redshank (T.
totanus), and these two share a sister relationship with the
marsh sandpiper (T. stagnatilis). These three species are
a group of smallish shanks with red or yellowish legs, a
breeding plumage that is generally subdued light brown
above with some darker mottling and with a pattern of
somewhat diuse small brownish spots on the breast and
neck.[3]

Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands about once per decade.

This species is encountered in the western Pacic region
between mid-October and mid-May.[4] A slight westward
expansion saw the establishment of a small but permanent
breeding population in Scotland since the 1950s.
This bird is usually found on freshwater during migration
and wintering. They forage by probing in shallow water or
on wet mud, and mainly eat insects and similar small prey.
T. glareola nests on the ground or uses an abandoned old
tree nest of another bird, such as the eldfare (Turdus
pilaris).[2] Four pale green eggs are laid between March
and May.

Ecology

The wood sandpiper is one of the species to which the

Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Widespread, it is considered a Species of Least Concern
by the IUCN.[5]

3 Footnotes
[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Tringa glareola". IUCN
Version 2013.2.
Red List of Threatened Species.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

In non-breeding plumage

The wood sandpiper breeds in subarctic wetlands from

the Scottish Highlands across Europe and Asia. They
migrate to Africa, Southern Asia, particularly India, and
Australia. Vagrant birds have been seen as far into the
Pacic as the Hawaiian Islands. In Micronesia it is a regular visitor to the Mariana Islands (where ocks of up
to 32 birds are reported) and Palau; it is recorded on

[2] Hayman et al. (1986)

[3] Hayman et al. (1986), Pereira & Baker (2005)
[4] Hayman et al. (1986), Wiles et al. (2000), VanderWerf
(2006), VanderWerf et al. (2006)
[5] BLI (2008)

References
Hayman, Peter; Marchant, John & Prater, Tony
(1986): Shorebirds: an identication guide to the
waders of the world. Houghton Miin, Boston.
ISBN 0-395-60237-8

Pereira, Srgio Luiz & Baker, Alan J. (2005):

Multiple Gene Evidence for Parallel Evolution
and Retention of Ancestral Morphological States
in the Shanks (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae).
The Condor 107(3): 514526. doi:10.1650/00105422(2005)107[0514:MGEFPE]2.0.CO;2 PDF fulltext
VanderWerf, Eric A. (2006): Observations on the
birds of Kwajalein Atoll, including six new species
records for the Marshall Islands. Micronesica 38(2):
221237. PDF fulltext
VanderWerf, Eric A.; Wiles, Gary J.; Marshall, Ann
P. & Knecht, Melia (2006): Observations of migrants and other birds in Palau, AprilMay 2005,
including the rst Micronesian record of a Richards
Pipit. Micronesica 39(1): 1129. PDF fulltext
Wiles, Gary J.; Worthington, David J.; Beck, Robert
E. Jr.; Pratt, H. Douglas; Aguon, Celestino F. &
Pyle, Robert L. (2000): Noteworthy Bird Records
for Micronesia, with a Summary of Raptor Sightings
in the Mariana Islands, 19881999. Micronesica
32(2): 257284. PDF fulltext
Pizzey, Graham and Knight, Frank: The Field Guide
to the Birds of Australia. HarperCollins, Sydney.
2012.

External links
Wood sandpiper Species text in The Atlas of
Southern African Birds.
Oriental Bird Images: Wood Sandpiper Selected
photos
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.8 MB) by Javier BlascoZumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Wood sandpiper Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_sandpiper?oldid=679739354 Contributors: William Avery, Jimfbleak,

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6.2

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File:Tringa_glareola_-_Laem_Phak_Bia.jpg Source:
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