Medium. Long upturned bill, steep forehead, short legs, fast moving. Sexes alike.
Adults: Breeding: Upperparts, brownish-grey, feathers with dark shaft streaks, broader of scapulars, forming horizontal blackish lines. Rump, tail, paler. Leading lesser coverts, edge of wing, flight feathers, blackish. Secondaries broadly tipped in white forming white trailing edge to wing. Outer primaries with conspicuous white shaft. Eyebrow, white, inconspicuous. Eye, dark brown. Eyestripe, from lores to ear, dark brown. Throat, belly, undertail coverts, most of underwing, white. Breast patches, pale brownish-grey with faint streaks, sometimes connecting in center of breast. Bill, dark horn, yellow-orange at base. Legs, orange to yellow-orange. Non-breeding: Upperparts paler. Breast has inconspicuous streaks.
Immatures: Upperparts darker with buff edges to feathers.
Other Scientific Names
Tringa cinerea [Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994)], Tringa cinerea [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)], Tringa terek [Turbott (1990)]
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Afghanistan (P), Angola, Armenia, Australia, Austria (P), Azerbaijan (P), Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus (B), British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (mainland), Comoros, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland (B), Georgia, Guam (NB), Hong Kong (China) (NB), India, Indonesia, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (NB), Iraq (P), Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia (B), Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia (NB), Mayotte, Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Moldova [Republic of], Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Oman (NB), Pakistan, Palau (NB), Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B) (P), Russia (European) (B) (P), Saudi Arabia (NB) (P), Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Taiwan (China), Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB) (P), Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine (B) (P), United Arab Emirates (P), USA (NB), Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Argentina, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Christmas Island, Côte dIvoire, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Réunion, Romania, Rwanda, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Kingdom.
Southern Finland; north-western Russia and Ukraine east through central Siberia to Anadyrland, mainly in boreal taiga zone, extending northern into subarctic tundra and south to steppe fringes. Winters from south-west, southern and eastern Africa through Middle East, southern Asia and Indonesia to northern and western Australia.
Breeds across northern Russia, migrates to Africa, India and across south-east Asia to New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 160,000 - 1,200,000 (2010).
Status LC
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.
Habits
Usually singly or in small flocks. Bobs tail like Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos).
Food
Aquatic animal life.
Voice
A musical trill, 'teeerr-da-weet, teeerrr-da-weet-a-weet', or 'pee-peeweer, peeweer, peewit', a rapid high-pitched 'tee-tee-tee', and a fluty 'du-du-du-du-du'.
Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) [XC840666]
by Bo Shunqi \u8584\u987a\u5947 from Chong Ming Dong Tan NR, China (call, flight call)
Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) [XC835739]
by Ray Tsu \u8bf8\u4ec1 from Jiuduansha Wetland National Nature Reserve, Shanghai, China (nocturnal flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds June - August in Eurasia.
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Nest
A depression in the ground among grass.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 5, usually 4; cinnamon-yellow with dark brown dots and dashes; pyriform; about 38 x 27 mm. Incubation: about 23 days; mainly by male.
Subspecies
Often placed in Tringa. Tringa terek is synonym. In past, occasionally split into two subspecies, cinereus and australis, based on differences noted at winter quarters, but variation poorly understood.
No subspecies.
Similar Species
The small size and upturned bill make this species unmistakable.
References
See References.
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
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