wandering tattler grey tailed

Gray-tailed Tattler

At a Glance

Range & identification, description, songs and calls.

Grey-tailed Tattler

Tringa brevipes.

The Grey-tailed Tattler, Tringa brevipes, is a small, elegant shorebird with a distinctive grey tail. It is closely related to the Wandering Tattler, T. incana, and shares many physical characteristics with this North American species. Both species are notable for their unpatterned grey wings and back, and a scaly breast pattern that extends onto the belly during breeding season. They also possess a rather prominent supercilium, adding to their keen-eyed appearance.

Identification Tips

To identify the Grey-tailed Tattler, look for its grey upper parts, underwings, face, and neck, contrasted with a white belly. It has short yellowish legs and a bill that is pale at the base with a dark tip. A weak supercilium can be observed above the eye. While similar to the Wandering Tattler, the Grey-tailed can be distinguished by its disyllabic whistle, as opposed to the rippling trill of its American counterpart.

The breeding habitat of the Grey-tailed Tattler is the stony riverbeds of northeast Siberia. These birds are comfortable perching in trees and may occasionally use old nests of other birds.

Distribution

After the breeding season, the Grey-tailed Tattler migrates to a range that spans from southeast Asia to Australia. They are rare vagrants to western North America and western Europe.

The Grey-tailed Tattler is a migratory species that winters on muddy and sandy coasts. It is not typically gregarious and is rarely seen in large flocks, except at communal roosts. Foraging occurs on the ground or in shallow water, where they pick up food by sight, including insects, crustaceans, and other invertebrates.

Song & Calls

The call of the Grey-tailed Tattler is a distinctive disyllabic whistle, which serves as a reliable identification tool.

This tattler breeds in the remote riverbeds of Siberia, nesting on the ground but also showing an unusual behavior for shorebirds by perching in trees. They may use old nests of other birds for resting.

Similar Species

The Grey-tailed Tattler is most similar to the Wandering Tattler, T. incana. Differentiation between the two species can be subtle and relies on details such as the length of the nasal groove and scaling on the tarsus.

Diet and Feeding

The diet of the Grey-tailed Tattler consists of insects, crustaceans, and other invertebrates, which they forage for on the ground or in shallow waters.

Conservation status

In Australia, the Grey-tailed Tattler is not listed as "threatened" under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. However, it is listed as "threatened" on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988), and as critically endangered on the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria. An Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has not yet been prepared.

Grey-tailed Tattler Sounds

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Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes

• Article by Arthur Keates

The Grey-tailed Tattler (the  Tattler ), a medium sized migrant to Australia, is found along the Queensland coast and off-shore islands. The Tattler’s English name derives from the birds’ tattling as it is often the first species to give a warning call.

The Tattler can hardly be described as a spectacular bird having an overall uniform grey appearance. However, the grey upperparts together with its long wings and bright yellow legs with a medium length straight bill distinguish it from other shorebirds, except the uncommon Wandering Tattler  Tringa incanas . When the Tattler moults into breeding plumage the smudge of grey on the breast becomes dark grey barring with only white undertail coverts, lower belly and vent. It may only be grey and white but the subtlety of the barring is quite alluring.

The fresh plumage of the juveniles arriving in late September has a distinctive white speckled appearance to the tertials and scapulars.

In late April to early May, Tattlers depart for the breeding grounds in north-east Siberia where they nest on the stony riverbeds in the mountains. According to the most recent population estimate of the species for the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, the Australian population accounts for 64,360 of the total population of 70,000 (Hansen, B.D.).

Tattlers forage by walking slowly picking up food by sight or probing, eating insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates. At high tide they are known to roost in large flocks but are well known for roosting in mangroves on higher tides. While Moreton Bay is a stronghold for the species, for those who have been to the “Shorebird Capital of Australia”, Roebuck Bay, WA, a spectacular site is the hundreds of Tattlers and other species roosting on the aptly named Tattler Rocks with the turquoise waters as a backdrop.

As a result of the fitting of leg flags engraved with a unique code, a lot of data on the migratory behaviour of Tattlers has been gained. Observations have shown the islands of Japan are major staging sites for Queensland Tattlers, particularly northern migration, while the population in north-western Australia migrate further west via China and Korea. Based on banding and observation data, some individuals are known to have reached at least 12 years of age. Adding to the data collected, between 2011 and 2013 the Queensland Wader Study Group’s banding team fitted geolocators to birds. While only 3 of the geolocators have been retrieved, the data provided further information on the birds’ migration, particularly timing, speed and staging and breeding areas (Coleman J.T.).

At the time this newsletter is published, adult Tattlers will be on northward migration to the breeding grounds. Despite the threats facing them, some will make it and breed successfully before setting off on the arduous flight back to Queensland.

Further Reading:

• “ Revision of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Population Estimates for 37 listed Migratory Shorebird Species. ”, Hansen, B.D., Fuller, R.A., Watkins, D., Rogers, D.I., Clemens, R.S., Newman, M., Woehler, E.J. and Weller, D.R., Unpublished report for the Department of the Environment, (2016) BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.
• “ The Migratory Movements of Grey-Tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes from Moreton Bay, South-east Queensland  ”, Coleman J.T., Milton D.A. and Akutsu H, Australasian Wader Studies Group Journal, Stilt-72 (2018): 2-8.

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Grey-tailed tattler

Tringa brevipes (vieillot, 1816).

Order: Charadriiformes

Family: Scolopacidae

New Zealand status: Native

Conservation status: Vagrant

Other names: Siberian tattler, gray-tailed tattler, grey sandpiper, grey-rumped sandpiper, ashen tringine sandpiper, greytailed tattler, grey tailed tattler

Geographical variation: Nil

Brook Whylie

Grey-tailed tattler. Adult, non-breeding. Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia, January 2014. Image © Brook Whylie by Brook Whylie www.sossa-international.org

• Species Information
• Breeding and ecology

The grey-tailed tattler and the very similar wandering tattler are elegant, medium-sized waders that can be a challenge to separate. The grey-tailed tattler occurs in New Zealand more often, with 5-10 birds present most years, as an overflow from the large population that spends the non-breeding season in northern Australia. The wandering tattler has a more northerly and easterly distribution; it is a familiar bird on many of the islands of the tropical Pacific, but is rarely found in New Zealand. The two species have marked, but not absolute, habitat preferences, with grey-tailed tattlers mainly found on soft substrates in harbours and estuaries, and wandering tattlers more often on rocky headlands and wave platforms. One of the best ways to tell the two apart are from their loud calls given in flight – an up-slurred too-wheet by the grey-tailed tattler, and a rippling pew-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu by the wandering tattler.

Identification

The grey-tailed tattler is a medium-sized, straight-billed wader with grey upperparts and white underbody with narrow grey barring on the breast and flanks. Non-breeding plumage is similar, but with plainer underparts with much reduced barring. A white eyebrow stripe extends beyond the eye and contrasts with a dark loral stripe which also continues a little behind the eye. The dark bill grades into dull yellow towards the base, there is a narrow white eye-ring, and the legs are yellow and of medium length. The long wings and tail give an attenuated rear end, adding to the elegant profile. Alert birds often display bobbing movements.

Voice: an upslurred whistle of two (usually) or three notes.

Similar species: the very similar wandering tattler has a rippling 6-10 note call, darker-plumage, a shorter white eyebrow (not extending past the eye), and longer wings. The wandering tattler has wings slightly longer than the tail (they are of similar length in grey-tailed tattler), and wandering tattler has 5 primaries projecting beyond tertials in the folded wing (cf. 4 in grey-tailed tattler). Other differences include wandering tattler having denser and more extensive barring on the underparts in breeding plumage, including on the belly and undertail (white in grey-tailed tattler), and wandering tattler having a nasal groove on the bill extending more than half the distance to the tip (cf. less than half in grey-tailed).

Distribution and habitat

Grey-tailed tattlers breed in Siberia and migrate south to south-east China, south-east Asia and some of the Pacific islands including New Guinea, Micronesia, Fiji and Tuvalu. They are common in Australia, particularly in the north.

Grey-tailed tattlers are mainly found in sheltered coastal areas, on reefs, rock platforms or intertidal mudflats.

New Zealand records

The grey-tailed tattler is a rare but regular visitor to New Zealand, occurring on estuaries, harbours and saltmarshes from Parengarenga Harbour in the north to Awarua Bay in the south. There are many records from the Auckland region, particularly Mangawhai, Kaipara and Manukau Harbours, also Miranda, Waiongana Estuary (New Plymouth), Manawatu Estuary and Ahuriri Estuary (Napier). Most South Island records are from the Nelson region (including Farewell Spit, Motueka and Waimea Inlets) and Kaikoura, also Ashley River mouth, Lake Ellesmere and Southland. Vagrants have occurred on the Kermadec, Chatham, Snares and Auckland Islands, including three on Enderby Island in April 1980, and two there in March 1982.

Behaviour and ecology

The grey-tailed tattler is a long-distance migrant. Birds banded in north-west Australia have been recorded in south-east China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Birds banded in eastern Australia have been recorded in Japan and Taiwan.

Grey-tailed tattlers feed by probing around rocks and rubble, or along the edge of water or on mudflats. They consume polychaete worms, molluscs, crustaceans, insects and occasionally fish . They may take several minutes dropping and throwing crabs to remove legs before consumption.

BirdLife factsheet

BirdLife bird profile

Chandler, R. 2009. Shorebirds of the northern hemisphere . Christopher Helm, London.

Hayman, P.; Marchant, J.; Prater, A.J. 1986. Shorebirds . An identification guide to waders of the world . Christopher Helm, London.

Higgins, P.J.; Davies, S.J.J.F. (eds) 1996 . Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds . Vol. 3, snipe to pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Recommended citation

Steed, C. 2013 [updated 2017]. Grey-tailed tattler. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online . www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz

Length: 25 cm

Weight: 110 g

Similar species: Wandering tattler

A medium-sized wader with a dark straight bill, grey upperparts, grey breast and white underparts. It has narrow white eye-rings, a bold white eyebrow stripe that extends beyond the eye contrasting with a dark loral stripe which also extends beyond the eye, and medium length yellowish legs.

  Alarm calls from birds on ground (whimbrel & silver gull in background)

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• Bird Identification Q&A

Tattler: Gray-Tailed or Wandering (Kyushu, Japan)

• Thread starter Faer Out
• Start date Jul 29, 2022

More options

• Jul 29, 2022

Grahame Walbridge

Well-known member.

Grey-tailed on account of nasal groove c1/2 bill length, restricted flank barring not extending to undertail coverts and strength of supercilium which, bridges across forehead is well-marked behind eye. Grahame  

Grahame Walbridge said: Grey-tailed on account of nasal groove c1/2 bill length, restricted flank barring not extending to undertail coverts and strength of supercilium which, bridges across forehead is well-marked behind eye. Grahame Click to expand...

Thank you! Gray-tailed was my initial conclusion but then I started second-guessing it . . . And honestly I couldn't figure out how to tell the difference visually between scutellated and reticulated, even after looking it up. The "big rectangular plates" helped specify that, thanks.  

Good shots lead to a firm ID it seems, nice one Faer Out, although a Wandering would be a rarer catch, congrats Cheers housecrow/gerben  

well-known Cretaceous relic

That supercilium length alone nails it, I never trouble about scutellations or the nasal groove as I always found them way too difficult on most views, basically any tattler with a decent supercilium extending behind the eye will be Grey-tailed. Great photos too, very helpful.  

• Jul 30, 2022

@HouseCrow Next time, a Wanderer! I know what to look for now. Thanks so much!  

• Aug 1, 2022

Faer Out said: Next time, a Wanderer! I know what to look for now. Click to expand...

Thanks so much, @MacNara . Yeah, I realize the chances of finding some of these rare birds are pretty slim. Actually, I don't see a lot of birders where I am. I thought there would be more. A few here and there. If only seen one place along a city river where people congregate with long lenses, watching a kingfisher. I usually go out in the more rural areas, though. I also tend to focus more on dragonflies these days. There just aren't so many birds out now, at least ones I haven't already seen many times. I've got lots to learn about dragonflies, which I know even less about than birds. Butterflies are fun as well. I will keep it in mind to watch my step, too! (Right, save the camera.) Wow, interesting to know that the society actually has influence with the city government!  

Faer Out said: Actually, I don't see a lot of birders where I am. I thought there would be more. A few here and there. If only seen one place along a city river where people congregate with long lenses, watching a kingfisher. I usually go out in the more rural areas, though. Click to expand...

I'm in Fukuoka City, on the west side. American. I travel around Kyushu fairly often, but haven't yet made it to Izumi. I did see some cranes in Hokkaido a few years back, though, but I only started getting particularly interested in birds about 2 years ago. Any good places in particular for birds in Nagasaki? I'm not too far away from Saga, so I make it to the Ariake Sea there a few times a year. Hopefully, it will get cleaner now that it is a Ramsar site.  

Faer Out said: Any good places in particular for birds in Nagasaki? I'm not too far away from Saga, so I make it to the Ariake Sea there a few times a year. Hopefully, it will get cleaner now that it is a Ramsar site. Click to expand...

I travel around Kyushu fairly often, but haven't yet made it to Izumi. Click to expand...

MacNara said: As I said, I wasn't a birder when I lived in Nagasaki. My wife and I did go to Tsushima one Golden Week, but it was very disappointing. Izumi is great, especially in January and February. There is a lot of stuff around as well as the cranes - if you are lucky. Rent a car at the station (or bring your own), stay at the Wing International business hotel, book evening meals at the hotel's izakaya (often full otherwise; and not many other restaurants in town), and enjoy for two or three days. Anyway, all the best for today. I'm signing off here. Click to expand...

MacNara said: some Bird Forum members might think it's more appropriate for a private message Click to expand...

• Aug 2, 2022

Butty said: Correct. Click to expand...

• I understand this is an old thread, but want to reply anyway

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Wandering Tattlers Are Working Their Way North

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While millions of birds migrate through the Pacific Northwest via the Pacific Americas Flyway, the Wandering Tattler winters on both sides of the vast Pacific Ocean. In the breeding season, they are primarily found in Alaska, Russia, and Canada.

This article was originally posted by Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture.

Wandering Tattlers ( Tringa incana ) easily capture the imagination–they do, really, wander the Pacific, and there are many unknowns about them in the literature. There are many common names for this species. In Hawaiian, they are known as ʻŪlili, and in Tahitian, Uriri – both more onomatopoetic than tattler, which likely refers to their behavior when alarmed. People of the Cook Islands have various names for this bird, among them Kolili and Kuriri . The birds are found within several indigenous language areas in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia.

The most recent Tattler I saw was along a rocky and muddy cove in Alaska’s Kachemak Bay. It stood out even from a distance–it was too chunky for a Yellowlegs, it was solitary, and it made its classic alarm call when I moved closer for a better look. It was the second week of May, so I didn’t know if this was a migrant stopping over to refuel or if it would be nesting more locally. Either way, the bird’s journey, and behavior intrigued me.

Distribution and Migration

Wandering Tattlers have a broad distribution surrounding the Pacific Basin. They spend the Northern Hemisphere summer in Alaska, far western Canada, and northeast Russia, usually arriving on the breeding grounds in May to early June and departing for the nonbreeding grounds starting as early as mid-July. The bulk of the migrants are believed to travel via the Central Pacific Flyway to wintering areas in Oceania (including the Hawaiian Islands) and East Asia-Australasia, but some of the population overwinters along the Pacific Americas.

Studies done in the late 1990s showed an Alaska-Hawaiʻi migratory connection when two birds marked at Turquoise Lake in southcentral Alaska were later resighted in Hawaiʻi. Like the Pacific Golden Plover, some of the Tattlers make Hawaiʻi their winter destination, while others spend the nonbreeding season further south. This project in Alaska, described in B reeding Ecology of Wandering Tattlers Tringa incana: a study from south-central Alaska , was the first time that marked birds had been resighted on the nonbreeding grounds. While these resighted birds confirmed the birds’ 4500 km migration from Alaska to Hawaiʻi, there is still more to learn about the longer flights to nonbreeding habitats in southern Oceania. Birds that winter in California and further south seem to migrate through Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, but the timing and routes from there needs more study.

Habits and Habitats

Tattlers are tail-bobbers, much like the smaller Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers, and they are often solitary or in small groups. The habitats they frequent varies with geography and time of year. During migration and the breeding season, they are often seen seeking invertebrates or small fish along rocky coastlines, mudflats, lakes, and streams. In the nonbreeding season, they also spend time on the ubiquitous beaches and other habitats of Oceania and Asia, as well as a suite of habitats along the North and South American coast. Throughout their nonbreeding range, they may also be seen in developed areas such as near resorts, piers, and airports.

Tattlers generally nest in montane habitats that have proximity to water, though lower elevation nests have also been recorded. Depending on the location, birds arrive on the breeding grounds in May and June. The nest usually contains four eggs, incubated by both males and females, and eggs hatch in late June to early July. Starting in July, the adult birds leave the breeding grounds, followed by immature birds. Young birds may stay on the nonbreeding grounds for up to three years before first migrating north, explaining why they might be observed on their nonbreeding range year-round.

Population and Conservation Status

The Partners in Flight Conservation Assessment Database puts the total global Wandering Tattler population at 18,000 birds, which falls within other global estimates of 10,000-25,000 individuals. Based on Breeding Bird Surveys and Christmas Bird Count data, there has been a significant decrease in population over the past 40 years, prompting the bird’s inclusion on the State of the Birds 2022 Tipping Point Species list and its inclusion on the Road to Recovery list.

Most ranking systems have an elevated level of priority or concern for the Tattler. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Birds of Conservation Concern 2021 list includes Wandering Tattler as a species of concern at the continental level and as a nonbreeding species of concern in the Hawaiian and other Pacific Islands. It is listed as a priority species for conservation or stewardship, depending on the Bird Conservation Region, by the Government of Canada . It is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the Alaska State Wildlife Action Plan and listed as a climate vulnerable species in the California Plan. It is a high-priority species in most of its range in the Alaska Shorebird Conservation Plan.

Because of the solitary and often remote habitat preferences of this species, global population numbers and trends are hard to pin down, but the observed declines in data we do have is of concern. As with other shorebirds, climate change leading to sea level rise and vegetation changes, non-native predators, and habitat loss are potential drivers of population declines.

Where are Wandering Tattlers now?

The northward migration has already started for some Tattlers, depending on the nonbreeding location. Cumulative, global eBird sighting s show where they have been recorded for any selected time period (March, June, August, and December, shown below). With vast migratory flights over the vast Pacific for some of the birds and the often remote, roadless breeding and nonbreeding locations, there is still a lot to fill in about where these birds are over the course of the year, the journeys they take, and their behavior. For our partners and friends in the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest–keep a look out!

LEARN MORE FROM ACROSS THE PACIFIC

• See Birds of the World for a comprehensive discussion of what is known about Wandering Tattlers.
• BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Tringa incana
• Alaska Species Ranking System–Wandering Tattler
• Breeding ecology of Wandering Tattlers Tringa incana: a study from south-central Alaska
• Read a southern hemisphere perspective, from the Tetiaroa Society .
• From the American Birding Association: How to Know the Birds: No. 21, Hawaii’s Most Perfect Bird
• Wandering Tattler in Hawaiʻi, from the State Wildlife Action Plan