Species: Tringa incana

Wandering Tattler

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

A medium-sized sandpiper with long wings and tail, relatively short but thick legs, and medium-length straight bill. Uniform gray above, with whitish eyebrow, dark rump and tail, and greenish-yellow legs. Breeding birds have heavily barred underparts. Nonbreeding birds whitish below, with a gray wash on sides and flanks (Gill et al. 2002).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae

Genus

Tringa

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104652

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Playero Vagabundo, Playero Gris - chevalier errant

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Shorebirds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Charadriiformes - Scolopacidae - Tringa - .

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A medium-sized shorebird.

Migration

false - false - true - Adults migrate northward from non-breeding grounds through Oceania and along U.S. Pacific coast from March-early June; subadults remain in non-breeding range through 2nd and likely 3rd year (Gill et al. 2002). Spring migrants arrive almost simultaneously along the entire Pacific coastline of Alaska in late April or early May (Kessel and Gibson 1978). Those with breeding grounds near the Bering Sea do not arrive until mid-May or later. Southward migration occurs July-October with most birds moving from Alaska, Yukon Territory and Russian Far East across the Pacific to the Hawaiian Islands, throughout Polynesia, New Zealand, eastern Australia and eastern Micronesia, and some birds moving down the Pacific coast of the Americans and the Galapagos Islands (Gill et al. 2002). Southward migration from Alaska is underway by mid-July (Kessel and Gibson 1978) (the earliest birds are adults, probably failed breeders) and lasts until October (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959); the main exodus from Alaska is during August, after young have fledged (Kessel 1989).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Eats polychaete worms, mollusks, crustaceans, insects, amphipods, and fish (Gill et al. 2002). During breeding season feeds along edges of rocky, gravelly mountain streams; apparently specializes in capturing larvae of caddisflies and aquatic dipterans (Bent 1929 and Stout 1967 in Johnsgard 1981). May wade into belly-deep water and completely submerge head while foraging. Probes in sand, mud, silt, rocky and arboreal crevices, among detritus, between and beneath submerged rocks, and among sessile invertebrates (Gill et al. 2002). During migration and non-breeding season, follows receding waves in rocky and sandy intertidal habitats. Observed catching and swallowing a 65- to 80-mm-long sculpin (Cottidae) (Gill et al. 2002).

Reproduction Comments

Arrival and pairing on northern breeding grounds occurs from mid-May to early June, with males generally preceding females in arrival (Gill et al. 2002). Single clutch laid per season (no evidence of second broods although replacement clutch likely if initial clutch is lost early in incubation), usually 4 eggs laid in late May-early June; incubated by both sexes for 23-25 days (Weeden 1965). Hatching recorded in Alaska from June 24-July 11 (1999); precocial nestlings are tended by both parents (Gill et al. 2002).

Ecology Comments

This tame shorebird breeds above timberline in Alaska, and much is still unknown about its breeding behavior (first nest was discovered in 1922). This species is better known on its coastal wintering grounds, where it was discovered more than two centuries ago. Wandering Tattlers are basically solitary throughout their annual cycle. Associated with mountain streams and gravel bars within their breeding range, they bob and teeter while feeding and probe the water surface for insect prey, especially aquatic invertebrates (Johnsgard 1981). The Wandering Tattler's primary call is a series of clear, rippling whistles, all on one pitch (Gill et al. 2002). In Alaska, possible predators to adult birds include Rough-legged Hawks (Buteo lagopus) and Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus), and arctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus parryii) are known egg/nestling predators to co-occurring Surfbirds (Aphorize vibrate) (Gill et al. 2002). Observed responses to predators include alarm calls and freezing in one place where coloration makes birds difficult to distinguish from background; young chicks may crouch motionless or flee intruders to the brood vicinity (Gill et al. 2002).

Length

Weight

116

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2008-01-15

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-25

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

GH - 200,000 to >2,500,000 square km (about 80,000 to >1,000,000 square miles) - GH - Breeding range encompasses western, central and south-coastal Alaska, central and southern Yukon, northwestern British Columbia, and northeastern Siberia and Chukotka. The majority (more than 90 percent) of the population breeds in North America (Gill et al. 2002). During the nonbreeding season, the species occurs mainly in Oceania from the Hawaiian Islands south through east and central Polynesia, also in Micronesia; it is present but not common in southern Melanesia and west to New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (Gill et al. 2002). It also winters along the Pacific coast of North America mainly from southern California south to Revillagigedo Islands and coastal Mexico, and locally to Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Galapagos Islands, and Ecuador. A significant portion of the population remains on the nonbreeding grounds for at least one year.

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

200,000 to >2,500,000 square km (about 80,000 to >1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104652