Justification This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Family/Sub-family Scolopacidae

Species name author (Bechstein, 1803)

Taxonomic source(s) AERC TAC (2003), AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Christidis and Boles (1994), Christidis and Boles (2008), Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994), Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), Turbott (1990)

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

260,000 - 1,200,000

unset

6,300,000 km²

No

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: Behaviour This species is a full migrant, travelling overland on a broad front between its breeding grounds in central Asia (Russia and Siberia), and its wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa, southern Asia, Indonesia and Australia¹. The main passage to and from Russia is believed to occur east of the Black Sea⁶, with only a few birds crossing Europe¹ (during south-west to south-south-west movements into and out of Russia a small proportion of the species regularly crosses Slovakia, Hungary, the Balkans, Italy and the eastern Mediterranean)⁶. In eastern central Asia the species passes through Mongolia; central, north-eastern and coastal China; Korea (on southward migration only), Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia and Sumatra¹. The species leaves its breeding range between the first half of July and early-September⁶, arriving in its wintering grounds in September¹. For those birds wintering in West Africa, the Nile valley in Sudan is commonly used as a stop over site before crossing the Sahara¹. The species is present in West Africa from September to mid-April¹, and departs again between the second half of March and April, passing through central Asia in early-April to early-May, and reoccupying breeding areas again by mid-April to mid-May⁶. Most non-breeders remain in the winter quarters or at intermediate sites during the breeding season¹. This species forages singly or in groups of less than 20³, although flocks can sometimes exceed 300^{2, 3}. It usually nests solitarily or in loose colonies with pairs spaced less than 10 m apart⁵. The species is active both diurnally and nocturnally (independent of moon phases)³. Habitat Breeding This species inhabits warm inland wetlands from open steppe to boreal forest, including shallow freshwater and brackish marshlands, grassy or marshy lake-edges⁴, river valleys, flooded meadows⁶ and occasionally salt-lakes¹. Non-breeding Outside of the breeding season the species typically occurs on the margins of inland freshwater and brackish wetlands such as rice paddy-fields, swamps, salt-pans, salt-marshes, sewage works and marshy lake-edges, and although it is rare on open coastlines it can occasionally be found on estuaries, lagoons and intertidal mudflats^{1, 2, 3}. Diet This species is carnivorous, its diet consisting of small fish, crustaceans, molluscs, and both aquatic and terrestrial insects^{1, 7}. Breeding site The nest of this species is a shallow depression⁶, often on a mound at the marshy edge of a lagoon, lake or pool⁴.

Threats Breeding The species has disappeared as a breeding bird from eastern Europe, Belarus, Maldova and Russia as a result of steppe habitat losses due to agricultural intensification (such as increased ploughing¹⁰), and possibly also due to egg-collecting¹. It may also be threatened by industrial pollution from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (organic pollutants) in the Lake Baikal region in Russia, where high levels of pollutants have been recorded in its eggs¹¹. Non-breeding In China and South Korea important migrational staging areas around the coast of the Yellow Sea are being lost through land reclamation and degraded as a result of declining river flows (from water abstraction), increased pollution, unsustainable harvesting of benthic fauna and a reduction in the amount of sediment being carried into the area by the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers^{9, 12}. The species is also threatened by habitat loss in its wintering range, as wetland sites in Ghana are being degraded through coastal erosion and developments involving drainage and land reclamation⁸. It may be susceptible to future outbreaks of avian botulism^{13, 14}, partly due to its choice of habitat (it often shows a preference for sewage works)³.

References 1. del Hoyo et al. (1996). 2. Urban et al. (1986). 3. Hockey et al. (2005). 4. Johnsgard (1981). 5. Hayman et al. (1986). 6. Snow and Perrins (1998). 7. Higgins and Davies (1996). 8. Ntiamoa-Baidu (1991). 9. Barter (2002). 10. Tomkovich (1992). 11. Lebedev et al. (1998). 12. Barter (2006). 13. Blaker (1967). 14. van Heerden (1974).

Further web sources of information

Detailed species account from Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status (BirdLife International 2004)

Text account compilers Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Jonathan Ekstrom (BirdLife International), Lucy Malpas (BirdLife International)

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2010) Species factsheet: Tringa stagnatilis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 30/7/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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