Tringa glareola

Geographic Range

Wood sandpipers ( Tringa glareola ) are one of the most abundant and far-reaching avian species. Their range extends from Siberia to Scotland. Their migration pattern is directed towards the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. These birds are one of the best migrants of their genus. In North America, they have been found in locations such as New York and Bermuda. Even though wood sandpipers are found in these locations, they are native to the Palearctic, Oriental, Ethiopian and Australian regions. During winter, they are found in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. This species is plentiful in the sub-Saharan African region, as well as India. In contrast, their population size is minimal in Australia and Tasmania. In addition, this species may travel to Iceland, Azores, Barbados, Greenland, Faeroes, Madeira and Hawaii on its migratory path.

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic palearctic
  • native native
• oriental oriental
  • native native
• ethiopian ethiopian
  • native native
• australian australian
  • native native

• Other Geographic Terms
• cosmopolitan cosmopolitan

Habitat

Wood sandpipers may be found in multiple habitats. This species is commonly found in open areas such as inland freshwater lakes, reservoirs, muddy marshlands, grassy stream banks, sewage farms, wet paddy fields, small temporary pools, permanent swamps, flooded grasslands, irrigation channels along creeks of salt marshes and mangrove swamps. However, these birds typically pursue breeding in between coniferous forests and tundra areas, with extensive mossy, sedge or grassy marshes.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• freshwater freshwater

• Terrestrial Biomes
• taiga taiga

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams
• temporary pools
• brackish water brackish water

• Wetlands
• marsh marsh
• swamp swamp

Physical Description

Wood sandpipers have a spotted upper body, while their breasts and necks are white with brown stripes. This pattern can be seen in other members of their genus, including solitary sandpipers ( Tringa solitaria ) and green sandpipers ( Tringa ochropus ). Their white supercilium extends from behind their eyes to the back of their ear-coverts, or from the base of their beak to the back of their ear-coverts. Their beak is short and straight, with a deep olive-green base and averages 25 to 32 mm in length. Their tarsus, which is connected to their thighs, is 32 to 41 mm in length. Wood sandpipers' legs are long and vary in color from yellow to nearly green. Their legs connect to slender toes, with almost no webbing. Their hind toes hardly touch the ground when they stand. Their feet are projected beyond their tails, which are brownish, contrasting the white patch on their rump and measures 45 to 53 mm. Their features vary at different stages in their lives. Breeding adults have slim bodies, the upper portion of their feathers are white and speckled, while their breasts and necks are covered with streaks. Their legs are yellowish and their bill has a pale base. Non-breeding adults have brownish upper parts and do not have black feathers. At this stage they are not spotted like breeding adults, instead their breasts have grayish streaks. Juvenile birds are similar in appearance to non-breeding adults, except their upper parts are a much darker, warmer brown. Juveniles have more spotting and streaking on their breasts and by the end of autumn, the buff color fades into a whitish color.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

Reproduction

Wood sandpipers are monogamous and territorial birds whose breeding season occurs between May and Mid-July, although they begin occupying their breeding habitat by late April. Their breeding areas include boreal forests, wet heathlands, grassy marshes and scrublands. Males use their plumage to attract mates. When breeding, these birds disperse into solitary pairs. There are typically 1 to 10 pairs per km2, or up to 50 pairs per km2 in the forest tundra. This species nests in the winter, nesting sites may include 50 to over 1,000 nests scattered in a particular area.

• Mating System
• monogamous monogamous
• cooperative breeder cooperative breeder

Wood sandpipers display territorial behavior during breeding season. When choosing a mate, birds occasionally lock bills and fight. Once a mate is chosen, the pair progresses towards the nesting period. Their nests are made of dry leaves and grasses with a depression line built into the ground. At times, these birds use the abandoned tree nests of other birds. This species is singled-brooded and their eggs measure up to 38 x 26 mm. The incubation period is shared between the sexes; however, females spend more time incubating the chicks. After hatching, females leave the nest while males watch over the chicks. This continues until the chicks begin flying, which takes approximately 30 days. Once the chicks are able to fly, they are considered independent and they can leave the nest when the ground is dry. It takes approximately a year for chicks to fully mature.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• oviparous oviparous

After breeding in solitary pairs, adult wood sandpipers begin leaving the breeding areas in late June; they are followed by the juveniles in late August. The precocial nature of this species allows it to start foraging a couple hours after hatching. At least one parent, typically the male, stays behind with the chicks during the first weeks after hatching. The mother usually leaves the nest in order to fatten up and regain the energy that was used during the production of eggs. In order to watch for predators and take care of the chicks, males stay at the nesting site instead of migrating.

• Parental Investment
• precocial precocial
• male parental care male parental care
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
  • protecting
    • male
• post-independence association with parents

Lifespan/Longevity

Wood sandpipers have an adult mortality rate of 46%, with a first year mortality rate of 83 to 88%. The oldest banded wood sandpiper on record was 9 years and 2 months old. Direct mortality has been caused by human interference in their migration pathways.

Behavior

Wood sandpipers are full migratory birds that travel overland across Europe and the Middle East. However, during the breeding season, wood sandpipers stay near northern Russia until their young are hatched and on their way to maturation. Non-breeding birds tend to stay in southern regions throughout the summer. Solitary pairs maintain well-dispersed nests. After breeding, wood sandpipers migrate to tropical Africa. They may stop at locations north of the Mediterranean Sea and fly over the Sahara Desert. During March and early April, this species departs for wintering grounds. They either travel in small scattered groups of 20 to 50 birds, or large flocks of up to 1,000 individuals.

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• nocturnal nocturnal
• motile motile
• migratory migratory
• solitary solitary
• colonial colonial

Home Range

There is currently little information regarding the exact home range size of wood sandpipers.

Communication and Perception

Wood sandpipers produce loud vocalizations, with low-frequency, repetitive sounds used during flight, to defend their territory or to find a potential mate. Their flight call is, 'chiff-if' or 'chiff-if-iff'. They may produce a sharp, repetitive 'chip' alarm call when they are distressed or perceive danger. Their song is enchanting and sounds similar to the song produced by redshanks ( Tringa tetanus ). They also perform aerial and ground displays for breeding purposes. These displays are well suited for their open habitat, as it allows them to be viewed by other birds over long distances.

• Communication Channels
• acoustic acoustic

• Other Communication Modes
• choruses choruses

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Wood sandpipers consume dietary items ranging from plants to animals. Among animals, this species consumes mollusks , earthworms , arthropods , crustaceans , fishes, spiders , frogs and larval midges . Wood sandpipers also eat seeds, grains, nuts and algae.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore carnivore
  • piscivore piscivore
  • eats eggs
  • insectivore insectivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods
  • molluscivore molluscivore
  • vermivore
• herbivore herbivore
  • granivore granivore
  • algivore

• Animal Foods
• amphibians
• fish
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• mollusks

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• algae

Predation

Their predators mostly prey on their nests. Their known predators include foxes , weasels , gulls , jaegers , falcons and hawks . This may encourage their continuous migratory patterns. When falcons attack, they attempt to separate a bird from its flock. When wood sandpipers are attacked by a predator, they form thick, coordinated flocks that synchronously turn at a high velocity, forming waves of motion. These birds may also feign an injury. In such cases, the bird pretends to have a broken wing and drag its wing or tail as it slowly flutters away from the nest. They also may flash brightly contrasting feathers such as wing-bars. This tactic is thought to make them look like they have a second pair of legs. During such behavior, they erect their feathers to resemble fur and squeal, while zigzagging along the ground. Wood sandpipers are also vulnerable to the bacteria Clostridium botulinum , which causes avian botulism and Plasmodium relictum , which causes avian malaria.

Ecosystem Roles

Wood sandpipers prey on a variety of organisms including frogs , fishes, insects , arachnids , mollusks and earthworms . Due to their diet, they spread seeds around their ecosystem through their feces. They may also host blood parasites.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Adult and juvenile birds are hunted for food by humans. Wild individuals are also caught and kept as pets.

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade pet trade
• food food

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

This species has been known to carry the West Nile Virus, which poses a threat to human health.

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • carries human disease

Conservation Status

This species is currently not at risk of extinction and has stable levels of population growth. However, habitat loss is their largest conservation concern, due to the deterioration of their migration grounds. Human interference, such as aerial transportation, jet skis and hunting are also potential threats. Other issues that affect their conservation status include pollution, climate change, biological resource use, mining, invasive species, disease and agriculture. This species may be exploited in European countries, such as Finland, due to wetland drainage and destruction of their environments.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

BioKIDS Critter Catalog

Contributors

Amy E. Buettner (author), Bridgewater College, Joemar P. Pazos (author), Bridgewater College, Tamara Johnstone-Yellin (editor), Bridgewater College, Leila Siciliano Martina (editor), Animal Diversity Web Staff.

References

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Human Ageing Genomic Resources. 2012. "AnAge entry for Tringa glareola" (On-line). AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database. Accessed February 26, 2013 at http://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Tringa_glareola .

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Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. 2013. "Tringa glareola — Wood Sandpiper" (On-line). Accessed February 23, 2013 at http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=829#life_cycle .

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