Grey-tailed Tattler.
Photo: Purnell Collection © Australian Museum
Distribution map of Heteroscelus brevipes
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Grey-tailed Tattler
Scientific name: Heteroscelus brevipes
Family: Scolopacidae
Order: Charadriiformes
- Featured Bird Groups
- Shore birds and waders
What does it look like?
Description
The Grey-tailed Tattler is a medium-sized wader, with long wings and tail. The bill is rather long and straight. In non-breeding plumage it is grey above and almost white below. There is a white eyebrow. The eyes are dark brown, bill black, short legs and feet bright yellow. In breeding plumage, the entire underparts are conspicuously barred dark brown. Immature birds are similar to adults in non-breeding plumage. This species is also known as the Grey or Grey-rumped Sandpiper or the Ashen Tringine Sandpiper
Similar species
The Grey-tailed Tattler is slightly smaller and slimmer than the very similar Wandering Tattler, H. incanus, which has longer wings, which project well beyond the tail tip at rest, and is mainly seen on rocky shores.
Where does it live?
Distribution
Grey-tailed Tattlers breed in Siberia and on passage are seen along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (the migration route to Australia). When non-breeding they are found in China, Philipines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, New Guinea, Micronesia, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. They are more commonly seen in the north of Australia.
Habitat
Grey-tailed Tattlers are usually seen in small flocks on sheltered coasts with reefs and rock platforms or with intertidal mudflats. They are also found in intertidal rocky, coral or stony reefs, platforms and islets that are exposed at high tide, also shores of rock, shingle, gravel and shells and on intertidal mudflats in embayments, estuaries and coastal lagoons, especially those fringed with mangroves.
Seasonal movements
Grey-tailed Tattlers are migratory, moving south for the northern winter, mainly along the east coast of Asia but also across the south-western Pacific Ocean. In Australia adults arrive in the north coast from late August to early September with first year birds arriving about four weeks later.
What does it do?
Feeding
Grey-tailed Tattlers feed by day on polychaete worms, molluscs, crustaceans, insects and, occasionally, fish. They like small crabs. They dart about, bobbing and teetering between runs and locate prey by sight or by probing.
Breeding
Grey-tailed Tattlers breed in the remote mountains of eastern Siberia, in June and July. The nest is a shallow depression among stones and both parents share the care of the young.
Living with us
Living with humans
There is little impact on breeding habitats as these birds nest in the remotest and wildest mountain country of Siberia. Threats on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (the migration route to Australia) include economic and social pressures such as wetland destruction and change, pollution and hunting.
References
Schodde, R. and Tideman, S.C. (eds) 1990. Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds (2nd Edition). Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sydney.
Higgins, P.J. and S.J.J.F. Davies (eds) 1996. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 3 (Snipe to Pigeons). Oxford University Press, Victoria.