Common Greenshank

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

 

Visual and Sound Image

Photos

Common Greenshank

Videos

 

Sounds

 

Identification

No descriptions

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Range Description

No descriptions

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Ecology

Ecology (Behaviour)

This species is fully migratory and generally migrates overland on a broad front, although the majority of Western European birds passes through coastal and estuarine sites1, 4. The Wadden Sea for example is used by many Fennoscandian birds as a stop-over and moulting site from late-April to mid-May1. Most palearctic birds are trans-Saharan migrants1, the main autumn passage through northern and temperate Europe occurring from the second week of July to late-October4. One parent (usually the female) leaves the breeding territory first from late-June to early July1, 4, with the other parent and juveniles following around 3-6 weeks later4. Flocks arrive in southern Africa and Australia from August to September, and depart again in March for the northward return migration1. The species departs for its breeding grounds during the evening5 and once there it breeds between late-April and June1. Some non-breeding birds may also remain in the south throughout the summer1, 4. The species normally breeds in very dispersed pairs3, but on passage it can occur singly or in small flocks (flocks of 20-25 are common in southern Africa)4, although congregations of 100 or more may very rarely occur at high tide or at roosting sites2. This species feeds both diurnally and nocturnally1.

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Habitat

<Breeding> This species breeds in the boreal forest zone from sea level to 1,200 m in Norway3, 4 (although predominantly up to 450 m)4, in swampy forest clearings, woody moorland, open bogs and marshes (including raised and blanket bogs)1, and eutrophic lakes with margins of dead and decaying vegetation3. It avoids bare or broken barren expanses, mountain escarpments, and closed forests with very dense, tall vegetation4.
<Non-breeding> In its wintering grounds this species frequents a variety of freshwater, marine and artificial wetlands, including swamps, open muddy or rocky shores of lakes and large rivers, sewage farms, saltworks, inundated rice-fields1, ponds, reservoirs4, flooded grasslands5, saltmarshes, sandy or muddy coastal flats, mangroves, estuaries1, lagoons and pools on tidal reefs4 or exposed coral2, although it generally avoids open coastline1. On migration this species occurs on inland flooded meadows, dried-up lakes, sandbars and marshes1.

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Diet

This species is chiefly carnivorous, its diet consisting of insects and their larvae (especially beetles), crustaceans, annelids, molluscs, amphibians1, small fish (mullet Liza spp., clinids Clinus spp. and tilapia Oreochromis spp.)5 and occasionally rodents1.

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Breeding Site

The nest is a shallow scrape on open ground, often in clearings in woods4, and is typically placed next to a piece of dead wood1, or beside rocks, trees3, fences and sticks (for use as nest markers)4.

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References

1. del Hoyo et al. (1996). 2. Urban et al. (1986). 3. Johnsgard (1981). 4. Snow and Perrins (1998). 5. Hockey et al. (2005). 6. Kelin and Qiang (2006).

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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). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not 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 stable, 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

In the Chinese, North Korean and South Korean regions of the Yellow Sea this species is threatened by the degradation and loss of its preferred wetland habitats through environmental pollution, reduced river flows and human disturbance6.

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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	14	14	17	12	23	26		8	3	4	2		2									29
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)	2	2	3	2	2	1		2	1	1	1		1									3
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								152			367			33	97	36	13		65	146	76
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)								3			6			6	6	7	3		4	3	3
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			2036	126	148	93	23	63	2	15	440	20						518	896	540	890	1463
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)			3	2	8	5	3	4	1	2	2	1						10	36	35	27	21
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				2	46	7	47	121	44	10	61			81		35	110	16		57		58
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				1	3	3	4	5	3	2	3			3		2	7	2		6		3
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								18	24	42	58	2	8	2	177	270	286	322	228	250	234	274
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)								1	2	1	2	1	3	1	25	27	23	27	25	26	17	18
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								7	2						27	4				73
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)								2	1						6	1				1
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				2421	743	268	711	576	365	283	1			98	140	59	275	598	187	881	900	612
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				9	15	16	22	12	4	2	1			8	8	11	7	10	12	29	31	11
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		1		16	27	53	64	18	65						59	161	42	22	268	158	711	36
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)		1		2	1	2	3	1	1						3	11	6	3	6	7	10	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					337	1025	571	917	1129	491	210	396	224	421	332	1171	500	599	1670	1032	730	998
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					10	13	21	19	20	19	8	12	15	18	24	12	24	21	29	26	23	31
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					70	180	472	265	302	294	387	664	299	439	137	290	181	267	209	140	218	138
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					3	8	10	9	7	11	9	8	6	8	6	7	5	6	5	4	5	4
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					9									30	5	2		2	1	5	3	12
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)					1									1	4	1		2	1	2	3	4
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	427	350	4	531	274	76	964	1102	45	15	17	201		181	308	53	43	89	106	544	641	328
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)	10	7	1	12	7	4	12	10	4	1	4	1		1	1	2	1	10	10	27	28	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	151		10	36		37	2		50	90	56	51	235	84	18	169	381	185
The number of observed sites(not all count sites)				1	2		1	2		1	1		1	3	2	2	11	4	1	4	5	6
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)