Spotted redshank
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The spotted redshank (Tringa erythropus) is a wader (shorebird) in the large bird family Scolopacidae. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific erythropus is from Ancient Greek eruthros, "red", and pous, "foot".<ref name=job>Template:Cite book</ref>
It breeds across northern Scandinavia and the northern Palearctic and migrates south to the Mediterranean, the southern British Isles, France, tropical Africa, and tropical Asia for the winter. It is an occasional vagrant to Australia and North America.
TaxonomyEdit
The spotted redshank was described by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Scolopax erythropus.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal Includes a transcript of the 1764 text.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is a monotypic species, with no recognised subspecies.<ref name=ShoreGuide357/> Taxonomically, it forms a close-knit group with several other large Tringa species, with molecular sequencing showing it to be a sister clade to that containing the greater yellowlegs and the common greenshank.<ref name=Parkin/>
DescriptionEdit
This is a large wader (shorebird), measuring Template:Convert long,<ref group="nb">By convention, length is measured from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail on a dead bird (or skin) laid on its back.<ref name=HBW/></ref> with a wingspan of Template:Convert and a weight ranging from Template:Convert.<ref name=ShoreGuide254/> 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 grey-brown finely speckled white above, and have pale, finely barred underparts. Adults moult completely between July and October. In spring, the body plumage is moulted between March and May. Juveniles have a partial moult between August and February.<ref>RSPB Handbook of British Birds (2014). UK Template:ISBN.</ref> The call is a creaking whistle teu-it (somewhat similar to the call of a roseate tern), the alarm call a kyip-kyip-kyip.
Habitat and rangeEdit
The spotted redshank breeds in the Arctic across much of the Palearctic, from Lapland in the west to Chukotskaya in the east.<ref name=Parkin/>
BehaviourEdit
Food and feedingEdit
Like most waders, it feeds on small invertebrates.
BreedingEdit
It nests on open boggy taiga, laying four eggs in a ground scrape. For breeding the bird moults to a black to dark grey with white spots. During breeding plumage the legs also turn a dark grey. See image alongside.
Conservation and threatsEdit
The spotted redshank is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
NotesEdit
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