Spotted Redshanks
Waders
The Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders.
It forms a close-knit group with the Greater Yellowlegs and the Greenshank, which among them show all the basic leg and foot colors of the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic* (Pereira & Baker, 2005). These three species are the largest shanks apart from the Willet, which is altogether more robustly built. (*Paraphyletic = some, but not all, of the descendants from a common ancestor)
Distribution / Range
This is an Arctic bird, breeding across Scandinavia and northern Asia. It is a migratory species, wintering around the Mediterranean and in south Asia, usually on fresh water. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America.
The Spotted Redshank is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Breeding / Nesting
This species nests on open boggy taiga, laying four eggs in a ground scrape.
Description
The Spotted Redshanks is 29-33 cm long. It is black in breeding plumage, and very pale in winter. It has a red legs and bill, and shows a white oval on the back in flight. Juveniles are brown above and have uniformly barred underparts.
The Spotted Redshank is replaced as a breeding bird further south by the Common Redshank, which has a shorter bill and legs, and is brown above and white with some dark patterning below, becoming somewhat lighter-toned in winter.
Calls / Vocalizations
The breeding song is a creaking whistle teu-hu, the alarm call a kyip-kyip-kyip.
Diet / Feeding
Like most waders, it feed on small invertebrates.
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