Common Greenshank

Tringa nebularia (Gunnerus, 1767)

Common Greenshank, Tringa nebularia, breeds in subarctic wetlands across northern Scotland, northern Europe and the wider Palearctic, and spends the non-breeding season in Africa, the Middle East, southern and south-eastern Asia, Australasia and nearby islands. It is a wader in the sandpiper family. Its long bill has a grey base and the lower part gives it an upturned look, while the legs are greenish. In flight it shows a white wedge on the back. Breeding birds are brown, and winter birds are grey-brown.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes

Breeding range

Palearctic: inland and coastal subarctic to temperate taiga wetlands of Palearctic: n Europe to e Siberia: Scotland, Scandinavia and Baltic states e through temperate Russia to Chukotskiy Pen., Kamchatka and Amurland (se Russia)

Nonbreeding range

sw PAL, AF, OR, AU : inland and coastal s temperate to tropical Old World: sw, s Europe, Canary and Cape Verde is. (Macaronesia, w of n Africa), Africa, Malagasy region, Middle East, s, se Asia to e China, Indonesian Arch., New Guinea region, Australia and Tasmania, Taiwan, Korean Pen., c, s Japan, Mariana Is. and Palau (w Micronesia)