Adults: Breeding: Crown, neck, breast, streaked black and white. Eye, dark brown. Eyebrow, white and short. Eyering, white. Lores, dark brownish-grey. Back, wings, dark grey with small whitish spots on back and scapulars. Rump, uppertail coverts, rest of underparts, white. Tail, white with three broad blackish bars. Underwing, dark greyish-brown with faint white barring. Bill, blackish tip, grading to olive at the base. Legs, greyish-green. Non-breeding: Similar to breedng plumage but no streaking on head. Sides of face, breast, brownish-grey with dark streaks.
Immatures: Brown above with buff spots.
Other Names (World)
Green Sandpiper, Whistling Sandpiper
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Afghanistan (P), Albania (NB), Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Austria (B) (NB), Azerbaijan (B) (NB), Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus (B), Belgium (NB), Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria (B) (NB) (P), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China (mainland), Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B) (NB), Cyprus (NB), Czech Republic (B) (NB), Denmark (B) (P), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia (B), Ethiopia, Finland (B) (P), France (NB) (P), Gabon, Gambia, Georgia (B), Germany (B) (NB) (P), Ghana, Greece (NB) (P), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Hong Kong (China), Hungary (NB), India, Indonesia, Iran [Islamic Republic of], Iraq (NB) (P), Ireland (NB), Israel, Italy (NB) (P), Japan, Jordan (NB) (P), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia (B), Lebanon, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania (B), Luxembourg (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mongolia (B), Montenegro (B) (NB), Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles (NB), Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway (B) (P), Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland (B) (NB), Portugal (NB), Qatar, Romania (B) (NB) (P), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B) (P), Russia (European) (B) (NB), Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia (B) (NB), Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (NB), Slovenia (B) (NB), Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain (NB), Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden (B) (P), Switzerland (NB), Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan (China), Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey (NB), Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine (B) (NB) (P), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (NB) (P), Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Australia, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Iceland, Madagascar, Mauritius, Northern Mariana Islands, Sâo Tomé e Principe, Seychelles, St Helena, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, USA, Western Sahara.
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) [XC656836]
by Jarek Matusiak from \u00d6verr\u00f6d\u00e5, Ume\u00e5, V\u00e4sterbottens l\u00e4n, Sweden (flight call, song)
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) [XC791817]
by Alan Dalton from Soinaste, Kambja Parish, Tartu County, Netherlands (alarm call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds in northern Eurasia, south of the Arctic Circle from central northern Europe and Scandinavia, east to the Kolyma River basin and northern Sakhalin, far eastern Siberia.
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Nest
In northern hemisphere it uses an old nest of a thrush or pigeon.
Eggs (Guide)
4; slightly glossy, greenish or buffish with deep brown and lighter markings; oval. Incubation: about 21 days; mainly by female.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
Slightly smaller. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Upperparts, dark greyish brown but also with spots. Underparts, completely white with barring on the flanks. Legs, longer, yellow-greenish.
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Slightly smaller. Has a white wing bar, and a dark central rump, a white shoulder peak and warmer browns.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet