|
COMMON GREENSHANK FACTS |
Description
Heavily-built wader with long, slightly upturned bill. Head and neck white, streaked with brown, grey and black (darker in breeding birds). Underside white; dark markings on upper breast and sides. Legs pale grey-green. In flight, upperwing dark and underwing white with faint brown barring. Larger than the similar Marsh Sandpiper. Length up to 35 cm; wingspan to 65 cm.
Found near edges of wetlands. Associates with other waders, especially the Marsh Sandpiper. Active, wary, excitable and noisy. Feeds on molluscs, crustaceans, insects and occasionally small fish and frogs. Feeds by picking, probing, sweeping and lunging; movements are often erratic, changing direction and dashing after small fish.
Author credit: Alexis Tindall / South Australian Museum
Habitat
Inland wetlands and sheltered coastal areas, including mudflats, saltmarshes, river estuaries, deltas and lagoons.
Food
Carnivore
Range
Around Australia
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Charadriiformes | | Family: | Scolopacidae | | Genus: | Tringa | | Species: | nebularia | | Common Name: | Common Greenshank |
Relatives in same Genus
Spotted Redshank (T. erythropus)
Lesser Yellowlegs (T. flavipes)
Wood Sandpiper (T. glareola)
Marsh Sandpiper (T. stagnatilis)
Common Redshank (T. totanus)
|
|
