Bird Guide

Marsh Sandpiper vs Wandering Tattler

Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis)

Marsh Sandpiper

Tringa stagnatilis

Medium78 gWetland

The marsh sandpiper resembles a small elegant greenshank, with a long fine bill and very long yellowish legs. Like the greenshank, it is greyish brown in breeding plumage, paler in winter, and has a white wedge up its back that is visible in flight. However, it is more closely related to the common redshank and the wood sandpiper. Together, they form a group of smallish shanks which tend to have red or reddish legs, and in breeding plumage are generally a subdued, light brown above with some darker mottling, with a pattern of somewhat diffuse small brownish spots on the breast and neck.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Stephen Matthews · CC0
Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana)

Wandering Tattler

Tringa incana

Medium108 gWetland

The wandering tattler was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Scolopax and coined the binomial name Scolopax incana. Gmelin based his description on the "ash-coloured snipe" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham's specimen had been supplied by the naturalist Joseph Banks.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: TRinaud · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Marsh Sandpiper and Wandering Tattler.