Marsh Sandpiper

Common Name	Marsh SandpiperBirdlife International
Species name	Tringa stagnatilisBirdlife International
Family	Scolopacidae
Genus
Local Name	Country Appearance Local name Brunei Darussalam     Cambodia     China     Indonesia     Japan Yes コアオアシシギ Lao PDR     Malaysia     Mongolia     Myanmar     Philippines     Republic of Korea     Singapore     Thailand     Vietnam

 

Visual and Sound Image

Photos

Marsh Sandpiper

Videos

 

Sounds

 

Identification

No descriptions

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Range Description

No descriptions

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Ecology

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 3002, 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.

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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 mudflats1, 2, 3.

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Diet

This species is carnivorous, its diet consisting of small fish, crustaceans, molluscs, and both aquatic and terrestrial insects1, 7.

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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.

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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).

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Status

International Status

IUCN Red List Category

LC

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.
<Trend justification> The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2006).

 

National Status

Country	Category	Reference
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Lao PDR
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam

 

Management

Threat

<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 Rivers9, 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 botulism13, 14, partly due to its choice of habitat (it often shows a preference for sewage works)3.

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Information

No descriptions

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Current Conservation

No descriptions

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Current Conservation

No descriptions

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Legal Protection

Country	Status	Reference
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
Indonesia
Japan
Korea
Lao PDR
Malaysia	Protected Wild Birds Part I: Game Birds	Law of Malaysia Act 76, Protection of Wild Life Act 1972 (Amend. 2006)
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam

 

Related Links

 

Range

Geographical Information

Migration Route

 

Asian Waterbird Census

Descriptions

The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) was initiated in 1987 and runs in parallel with other waterbird censuses carried out in Africa, Europe, Central and West Asia and Latin America under the umbrella of the International Waterbird Census (IWC), which is organised by Wetlands International.

The AWC takes place annually, during the second and third weeks of January, and is carried out by volunteers interested in collecting information on waterbirds and wetlands as a basis for contributing to their conservation.

Reference: Li, Z.W.D., Bloem, A., Delany S., Martakis G. and Quintero J. O. 2009. Status of Waterbirds in Asia - Results of the Asian Waterbird Census: 1987-2007. Wetlands International, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Census Data

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual	1	5	3	4	6	23		6	4		2	3	2
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)	1	3	3	1	1	2		1	2		1	3	1
The total number of count sites	2	3	3	2	4	4	0	4	4	4	4	5	5	0	0	0	9	0	0	1	0	9
CAMBODIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual								2			38						2			1	5
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)								1			4						2			1	2
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	11	0	0	12	12	11	5	1	6	9	6	6
CHINA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual			540		2	32	16	156		2	562	6						28	5	12	73	9
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)			1		1	1	1	3		1	2	1						1	3	3	6	4
The total number of count sites	0	1	34	12	50	60	67	29	6	14	6	15	21	20	14	10	22	45	80	81	59	72
INDONESIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual				125	83	15	282	33	34		250			10			220	5		115		186
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				1	5	1	5	2	3		1			2			5	2		8		1
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	1	19	8	17	17	15	19	16	0	0	47	12	10	40	34	14	16	15	23
JAPAN	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual										2	9				48	26	39	26	9	9	15	7
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)										1	2				9	6	5	9	6	3	3	4
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	53	39	52	47	20	50	40	47	37	41	37	107	112	103	109	97	159	142	137
LAO PDR	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	2	4	5	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	14	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
MALAYSIA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual				6692	2375	6036	3349	269	340					346	44	106	185	543	365	680	432	364
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				24	28	34	29	10	3					6	5	6	6	13	11	19	22	9
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	59	68	93	85	17	10	7	10	0	0	20	25	25	25	43	43	82	82	40
MYANMAR	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					15	153	126		7	4						70		476	4	6	2
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					1	5	4		1	1						4		6	1	2	1
The total number of count sites	0	5	3	12	17	15	21	20	13	12	2	4	2	0	7	32	47	73	24	31	32	19
PHILIPPINES	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					269	1098	1438	230	508	141	252	82	22	157	127	121	597	1156	675	505	431	557
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					8	10	14	7	10	12	14	4	4	6	10	3	17	17	10	7	7	12
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	19	21	34	39	46	47	39	28	29	32	43	38	50	47	56	54	65	108
SINGAPORE	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual					575	709	989	1294	1261	526	696	722	901	480	391	682	389	215	207	174	126	272
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					3	5	9	12	8	7	7	6	5	6	5	7	4	5	4	4	4	3
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	0	4	12	17	15	13	14	10	10	6	11	10	10	8	9	9	8	8	7
REPUBLIC OF KOREA	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)
The total number of count sites	0	0	10	12	22	20	20	15	10	22	25	22	14	68	99	112	118	116	117	123	127	127
THAILAND	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual	594	218		209	138	291	646	909	88	2	200	165		334	1383	142	25	439	910	2405	3079	1368
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)	9	6		5	6	3	13	8	4	2	1	1		1	1	3	3	4	8	23	25	18
The total number of count sites	10	8	3	20	26	12	23	16	17	5	9	3	1	1	7	3	9	26	20	82	99	33
VIETNAM	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The number of observed individual				1	60		2	51		32	1		6	53	10		12	3	9	76	14	73
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				1	1		1	1		1	1		1	1	1		1	1	1	2	4	5
The total number of count sites	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	4	0	1	1	0	1	8	2	2	16	4	4	9	6	11

 

Population

Descriptions

 

Population Trend

 

Additional Information

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Climate change species distributions

 

Other Information

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