Spotted Redshank

Tringa erythropus (Pallas, 1764)

		spring plumage winter plumage juvenile
2009-05-10 Sorbulak Lake, Almaty oblast 2016-01-24 Almaty region, Sorbulak2017-09-16 Eastern Kazakhstan	© Gennadiy Dyakin © Sergei Shmygalev© Natali Kim

Description

The Spotted Redshank is a bird on size similar to Common Redshank or slight larger. The head, fore part of the back, and underparts of adult birds on spring plumage is black with the white spots or edges of the much feathers. The rear part of the back and the rump are all white. The uppertail coverts and tail feathers are blackish with the dense white cross strips. The flight feathers are brownish, some of them with white cross strips. The core of the first primary feather is white. The axillaries are white. The bill is black with reddish base of lower mandible; thin and straight. The legs are red, sometimes black with reddish bends. The eyes are brownish. The adult birds in winter plumage have grey head, neck and back; the white supercilium begins from the bill's base. The upperparts are white with grayish spots on the craw and flanks. The legs are orange. The juveniles are similar to autumn adults but have the darker browner with white mottles upperparts. The throat is white, other underparts are dirty-grey with brownish mottles. The legs are light-orange. Weight 160-172 grams, wing length- 152-173 mm.

Distribution

In Kazakhstan the Spotted Redshank occurs on migration throughout in plains excluding mountain lakes and waterless deserts.

Biology

The Spotted Redshank is a rare passage migrant. It occurs on the lakes, pounds and other reservoirs with grassy and muddy shores, both fresh and salty. In spring it arrives singly or in small flocks up to one-two dozen birds in the second half of the March – early April or in May in the northern areas. Latest migrants recorded at southern areas until the end of May. Autumn migration starts in the end of June – July, majority of the birds migrate in August – September, and the latest ones migrate till the end of October. Intensive migration observed only through the central parts of Kazakhstan, where the flocks of several dozens up to one hundred birds are not rare in spring and in autumn both.

References

Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005. "Птицы Казахстана" том 2. "Наука". Алма-Ата, 1962.