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Common Greenshank

Tringa nebulariaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Common Greenshank Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Common Greenshank: Large sandpiper with scaled gray-brown upperparts, white rump, and white underparts streaked and spotted with brown. Long legs are yellow-green. Bill is slightly upturned. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Common Greenshank: Found in Europe and Asia on mudflats, wetlands, bogs, shallow marshes, ponds. Rare visitor to western Aleutians, Pribilof, and St. Lawrence Islands of Alaska; also recorded in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in fall and winter. Nests in taiga and forest areas; winters on a wide range of wetland habitats, both coastal and inland, but prefers estuaries to the open coast.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"tew-tew-tew", "too-hoo, too-hoo"

Interesting Facts

 The Common Greenshank males arrive first at their breeding site and, after establishing a territory, will begin display flights, rising up and down in the air, while singing richly and sometimes tumbling and turning. Females may join in the display.

 They stand tall and erect and may bob their heads when alarmed.

 Some authorities have suggested that they and the Greater Yellowlegs constitute a superspecies.

 A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Common Greenshank
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Sandpiper (Scolopacidae)_blue
Species Tringa nebularia
Length13 Inches
Wingspan24.5 Inches

Common Greenshank

Common Greenshank: Large sandpiper with scaled gray-brown upperparts, white rump, and white underparts, streaked and spotted with brown on flanks and sides. Yellow-green legs. Bill is slightly upturned. Eats small fish, insects and larvae. Swift direct flight with clipped wing beats.

● Song: "tew-tew-tew", "too-hoo, too-hoo"

● Foraging & Feeding: Common Greenshank: Eats small fish and insects. Forages while running in shallow water or wading belly-deep.

● Breeding & nesting: Common Greenshank: Four light gray to buff eggs with red brown spots are laid on the ground close to a fallen log, stump, or hummock. Nest is lined with moss. Eggs are incubated for 24 days.

● Similar species: Common Greenshank: Greater Yellowlegs is darker with more gray-brown in plumage, has more heavily barred white tail, dark back, and brighter yellow legs.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with quick clipped wing beats.
Common Greenshank Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Common Greenshank: Found in Europe and Asia on mudflats, wetlands, bogs, shallow marshes, ponds. Rare visitor to western Aleutians, Pribilof, and St. Lawrence Islands of Alaska; also recorded in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in fall and winter. Nests in taiga and forest areas; winters on a wide range of wetland habitats, both coastal and inland, but prefers estuaries to the open coast.
BreedingMonogamous, Small colonies
PopulationRare
MigrationMigratory
Weight6.1 Ounces