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Terek Sandpiper

Terek Sandpiper

Xenus cinereus

Identify the Terek Sandpiper by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Terek Sandpiper is a small, lively wader with a long, upturned bill and short orange-yellow legs, the only member of its genus. It breeds on sandy and shingle banks of rivers and lakes in the northern taiga from north-eastern Europe to Siberia and winters on tropical coasts of Africa, South Asia and Australia, especially on muddy shores and mangroves.

Did you know?

  • It is the only species in the genus Xenus.
  • It is named after the Terek River by the Caspian Sea.

Voice

Flight call

About the species

Identification

A small wader, grey above with a black line along the scapulars in breeding plumage and white below. The legs are short and yellow-orange, and the fairly long, dark bill curves clearly upwards. In flight a white trailing edge shows on the wing. It differs from Common Sandpiper in its upturned bill and brighter legs.

Family

Scolopacidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

grey, white, brown, orange

About the habitat

Breeds on gravelly or sandy bars and banks of broad taiga rivers and lakes, and even log storage areas; outside the breeding season tidal mudflats, estuaries, sandy shores and mangroves.

Diet

Small invertebrates – insects, crustaceans and worms – picked or swept from wet sand and mud; it chases mobile prey and often washes its catch at the water's edge.

Behaviour

An energetic feeder that dashes about after prey and makes quick side-to-side sweeps with its bill, often with Turnstones and small plovers. It readily perches on branches and even wires. Its call is a fluty whistle. It nests in a ground scrape, laying three or four eggs, and migrates long distances.

Sources

Photo: Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) (53969645800).jpg

Sound: Jochem Verweij, XC926291, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/926291

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terek_sandpiper

See also