Gray-tailed Tattler

Overview

Gray-tailed Tattler: Medium sandpiper with gray upperparts and cap, white eyebrow and throat, gray streaked breast, and pale gray underparts. Wings and tail are dark. Legs and feet are yellow. Eats insects and larvae, picks up food in sand and water. Direct flight, quick wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Gray-tailed Tattler: Occurs as a regular spring and fall migrant on the outer Aleutian Islands, Pribilofs, and St. Lawrence Island, and casually on the Alaska coast, north to Point Barrow; there are single records from Washington and California.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Gray-tailed Tattler is also known as the Gray-rumped Tattler, the Gray-rumped Sandpiper, the Siberian Tattler, and the Polynesian Tattler.
It is closely related to its North American counterpart, the Wandering Tattler and is difficult to distinguish from that species.
A group of tattlers are collectively known as a "whisper" of tattlers.

The Gray-tailed Tattler is a small shorebird found mainly in northeastern Siberia. Breeding grounds for this species are found in stony riverbeds. Nests are built on the ground, but this bird will perch in trees. At times, they have also been known to utilize old nests from other species. During the cold winter months, the Gray-tailed Tattler will migrate to the mud and sand of the coasts of southeastern Asia and Australia. Occasionally, they are found in western North America and western Europe. Diets consist mainly of insects, invertebrates and crustaceans. The conservation rating for the Gray-tailed Tattler is Least Concern.