Common redshank

Tringa totanus

A medium shorebird with red legs and a white trailing wing edge, often calling loudly over wetlands and mudflats.

Key facts

Common redshank (Tringa totanus) is a carnivore animal classified as Bird · Charadriiformes · Scolopacidae.
Primary habitats are coast · freshwater · grassland, with a range across Palearctic · Afrotropical · Indomalayan.
Activity is diurnal, sociality is loose group, and conservation status is LC (Least Concern).
A medium shorebird with red legs and a white trailing wing edge, often calling loudly over wetlands and mudflats.
Lives on saltmarsh, mudflats, estuaries, damp grassland, bogs, and lake shores, using grassy wetlands for breeding.

Habitat range map

Native rangeOccasional / Transient

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Lives on saltmarsh, mudflats, estuaries, damp grassland, bogs, and lake shores, using grassy wetlands for breeding.

The legs and bill base are red. In flight, white wing edges and a white rump are conspicuous.

It probes along water edges and takes flight with loud alarm calls, often acting as a sentinel at breeding sites.

Worms, crustaceans, insects, mollusks, and small fish are probed from mud and shallow water.

Nests are hidden in grass on damp meadows or saltmarsh. Precocial chicks hide in response to adult alarm calls.

Widespread overall, but drainage of breeding wetlands and alteration of tidal flats affect local populations.