Common greenshank

Voice

Unmistakable and loud: a clear, evenly pitched tew-tew-tew of three — sometimes four — equally strong notes, usually given on take-off and audible at long range. When uneasy it repeats a single sharp kyup until it settles. On the breeding grounds it performs an undulating song flight with a sustained, yodelling tloo-wee tloo-wee. Along our coast the flight call carries over flats and polders throughout the autumn, at night as well.

Identification

Big and pale, with a thick blue-grey bill that curves clearly upwards and darkens towards the tip, and olive- to greyish-green legs. In summer it is coarsely black-blotched on mantle and scapulars and heavily streaked on head, neck and breast sides; in winter it is plain pale grey with a white forehead and face, giving a bleached, almost bare-headed look. In flight there is no wing bar at all, but a long pointed white wedge runs from the rump far up the back — further than in any other European shank — and the feet project only slightly beyond the tail. Juveniles are browner, with buff fringes to the coverts and a more finely streaked breast.

Confusion species

Redshank is smaller and darker, with orange-red legs and broad white trailing edges to the wings. Spotted Redshank is slimmer, with a longer, perfectly straight and finer bill, red legs and a much whiter look in winter; its call has two syllables against the Greenshank's three. Marsh Sandpiper is far smaller and more delicate, with a needle-fine straight bill and a small head on a long thin neck. The American yellowlegs have bright yellow legs and a shorter, straight bill, and in Lesser Yellowlegs a distinctly finer one as well.

Habitat

On passage it uses tidal flats, creeks, brackish channels, saltpans, clay pits and shallow freshwater pools. It wades deep and feeds actively — running after shrimps and small fish with the bill scything sideways through the water — quite unlike the probing calidrids around it. A few birds stay through the winter in sheltered creeks, harbours and sluice basins. It breeds in the taiga and on open blanket bog and moorland from Scotland to Siberia, often well away from water on a bare patch beside a stump or stone.

Range and movements

In Europe it breeds in Scotland, Fennoscandia and northern Russia. The Netherlands is passage country: from mid-July into October thousands move through the Wadden Sea and the Delta, with a second, smaller wave in April and May, and a few tens remain all winter. In Spain it is a numerous winter visitor in Doñana, the Ebro delta, the Cádiz saltpans and the rice fields of La Albufera, and on passage it turns up on almost any inland reservoir.

• Resident
• Breeding (summer)
• Winter
• Passage
• Migration direction
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

Where and when to look

In August station yourself on a rising tide at the edge of a creek in the Wadden Sea or the Delta: Greenshanks feed in the deeper water to the last and leave only as the flat goes under. Learn the three-syllable call by heart — on nocturnal passage in September it is often the only record you will get. For birds in full summer plumage, late April and early May are the moment.

Conservation status

Least Concern globally, with a large and apparently stable breeding population in Fennoscandia and Russia. The small Scottish population is under pressure from afforestation of open peatland and increasing predation. Along the flyway and in winter what counts most is the quality of the tidal flats and undisturbed high-tide roosts.