Spotted Redshank

Tringa erythropus

The Spotted Redshank is quite the little traveler. These birds spend their summers in Scandinavia and in parts of Siberia. When the autumn comes, they head south. Some go as close as the British Isles or the Mediterranean, while others make it all the way to Southeast Asia and even Australia! These migrations can start as early as late June, and will take months to complete with several stopover points.

Spotted Redshanks are wading waterbirds that can be found in marshes, forests, and wetland regions in whatever country they happen to be in at the time. They feed on very small water dwelling creatures, usually insects and their larvae, though they will take small vertebrates on occasion as well. Spotted Redshanks typically wade in order to feed, but they will also swim into deeper water and upend themselves like ducks do.

The population of Spotted Redshanks is currently stable, but that may not always be the case. Habitat degradation is happening in many of their winter and summer homes, as well as in many of their extremely important migration stopover points. For now though, their population size and massive range is enough to keep them listed as being of Least Concern, though they are listed by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA).

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IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : Europe and Asia
Size : Length up to 12in (31cm), Wingspan up to 26in (67cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Charadriiformes
Family : Scolopacidae -- Genus : Tringa -- Species : T. erythropus