The First Record of Gray-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes) in British Columbia and Canada. By Rick Toochin. Published: June 3, 2023.

 

The Gray-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes) is a medium sized shorebird that breeds in montane taiga and forest tundra, along rivers and streams, and on stone or pebble shorelines of lakes; up to 1800m from Northcentral and Northeastern Siberia in the Putorana Mountains, and from Verkhoyansk Mountains and Transbaikalia, eastward to Anadyrland, and Kamchatka and probably also North Kuril Island (Hayman et al. 1986, Lewington et al. 1992, Brazil 2009, Van Gils et al. 2020). 

 

This species is highly migratory using mainly coastal locations, but sometimes is found on inland wetlands, even rivers (Van Gils et al. 2020). On passage, the Gray-tailed Tattler occurs regularly on the Kuril Islands, Korea, Japan, Northeastern China, Hong Kong, and the Philippines (Hayman et al. 1986, Brazil 2009, Van Gils et al. 2020).  There are some birds that cross through Mongolia and Central China to the wintering grounds (Van Gils et al. 2020). Other birds move across the southwestern Pacific (Hayman et al. 1986). These radically different migrant routes probably indicate two migration routes to the wintering grounds in Australia, with birds travelling either side of New Guinea (Van Gils et al. 2020). The Gray-tailed Tattler migrates from July into mid-October in the fall and from March into late May in the spring (O’Brien et al. 2006, Van Gils et al. 2020). It is estimated that the Gray-tailed Tattler can fly non-stop from wintering grounds in Northwestern Australia to the Philippines or possibly Southern China (Van Gils et al. 2020). Most departures from Northern Australia are from late March into late April (Van Gils et al. 2020). Most first-year birds remain at southern latitudes during the boreal summer (O’Brien et al. 2006).

 

The Gray-tailed Tattler winters from Taiwan, the Malay Peninsula and Philippines south through Indonesia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands to Australia, with a few reaching New Zealand and Fiji and Tuvalu (Hayman et al. 1986, Van Gils et al. 2020).

 

During the non-breeding season, the Gray-tailed Tattler is found on sheltered coasts with reefs and rock platforms or with intertidal mudflats; also shores of rock, shingle, gravel, or shells; often roosts in mangroves, and may perch for roosting; prefers areas with dense beds of seagrass and paddy fields which are exclusively confined to in coastal in Australia (Van Gils et al. 2020). The Gray-tailed Tattler frequents a wider range of habitats than the Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) during the winter season (Paulson 2005). 

 

The world population of the Gray-tailed Tattler is not globally threatened, but was reclassified to Near Threatened in 2014, based on evidence of moderately rapid population decline (Bird Life International 2020). The global population in 2007-2009 was estimated to number about 44,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2020). Recent evidence suggests that this species declined overall between 1987 and 2011 (Wetlands International 2020), and an estimated decline of 20-29% has occurred in Australia over 25 years, with some variability in local rates and trends (Garnett et al. 2011). At one key wintering site, Eighty Mile Beach in Western Australia, surveys in December 2008 found 7,950 birds, a decline of c.46% since surveys in 1999 and 2001 (Garnett et al. 2011, MacKinnon et al. 2012). Numbers migrating through Japan in autumn have declined since 1978, and by 57% between c.1983 and c.2007 (Amano et al. 2010). The loss and degradation of wetlands (including pollution, reclamation, and urban and industrial expansion), disturbance and hunting are the main threats at stopover sites and on the wintering grounds (Garnett et al. 2011). These survey data and the knowledge of threats to the species support the suspicion of an overall decline of at least 25-29% over 17 years (estimate of three generations) (Garnett et al. 2011).

 

The Gray-tailed Tattler has occurred as a vagrant species on islands in the Indian Ocean with 4 records from the Seychelles, four records, all months (Safford and Hawkins 2013); the Mauritius, late 1989–March 1990, December 1990–February 1991 (Safford and Basque 2007); Rodrigues, April 1999 (Showler 2002); six records from the Chagos Islands (Carr 2015). There are also vagrancy records for India in Goa, in February 2002 (Robson 2002), and Bangladesh with five spring records since May 1989 (Thompson et al. 1993, 2003) 

 

In North America, the only region where the Gray-tailed Tattler occurs with any regularity is in Alaska (Paulson 2005). This species is rare to irregularly occurring spring migrant on the western Aleutian Islands from mid-May to mid-June and is an uncommon fall migrant from August to early October (Howell et al. 2014). On the central Aleutian Islands this species is a very rare spring vagrant migrant from late May into early June and in the fall from August to early October (Howell et al. 2014). Anywhere in the eastern Aleutians is an accidental to casual migrant vagrant (Howell et al. 2014). On the Bering Sea Islands, the Gray-tailed Tattler is a very rare spring migrant vagrant from mid-May to mid-June and is an uncommon migrant in the fall from July to mid-October (Howell et al. 2014). In northern, western, and in south-coastal mainland Alaska this species is accidental as there are only a handful records occurring from June to early July (Howell et al. 2014). There is a single photographed record from Middleton Island on September 24, 1982 (DeCicco et al. 2017). 

 

South of Alaska along the Coast, the Gray-tailed Tattler is an accidental vagrant migrant species. There is a single accepted record for Washington State by the Washington Bird Records Committee of a photographed juvenile found at Leadbetter Point, in Pacific County, on October 13, 1975 (Paulson 1986, Wahl et al. 2005). There also only a single accepted record for California by the California Bird Records Committee of an adult in breeding plumage photographed near Lancaster, Los Angeles County, on July 23, 1981 (Hamilton et al. 2007).  The Gray-tailed Tattler is a new addition to the avifauna list of British Columbia with a bird well photographed in Kitimat (D. Cecile Pers. Comm.).

 

Incredibly there are 2 photographed records for the east coast of North America with a single bird found on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts from October 18-20, 2012 (e-bird database 2020) and an adult documented as a flyby at Matinicus Rock, Knox County, Maine on August 14, 2017 (e-bird database 2020).

 

The Gray-tailed Tattler is a vagrant migrant species to Europe with records from; Britain in Wales, October 13–November 17, 1981 (Thorpe 1995); Scotland, November 27–December 27, 1994 (Stenning and Hirst 1994); Ijmuiden, Noord-Holland, Netherlands on July 28, 2010 (Piek and Slaterus 2010); Amsterdam Island, Netherlands from October–November 1973 (Van Gils et al. 2020); and Oland, Sweden on July 12, 2003 (van der Berg 2003). This species is accidental in the Azores (Jones 2018).

The identification of the Gray-tailed Tattler is covered by most standard North American field guides. There are no subspecies and is classified as Monotypic (Brazil 2009). The Gray-tailed Tattler is a medium sized shorebird measuring 24–27 cm in length, with a wingspan of 60–65 cm, and weighing 80–162 grams (Brazil 2009). Overall, the Gray-tailed Tattler has short yellow legs and darkish gray upperparts (Message and Taylor 2005). Adults in breeding plumage are very similar looking to Wandering Tattler but are slightly paler and shorter winged (Paulson 2005). The white supercilium is more extensive running from the bill base, over and a bit more obvious behind the dark eyes (Message and Taylor 2005). The face is paler due to the finer dark chevrons that run from the cheek, down the neck and onto the sides to the flanks (Message and Taylor 2005).  The lower flanks, undertail and belly areas are white (Brazil 2009). The bill is thick and pale-yellow green towards the base (Message and Taylor 2005). Female birds are on average larger than the males (Van Gils et al. 2020). On Wandering Tattlers in breeding plumage, the supercilium extends from the base of the bill to the top above the dark eyes (Message and Taylor 2005). There are dark heavy bars on the cheeks, that turn into dark heavy chevrons that run down the sides of the neck, down the belly (except for tiny pale area) right to the undertail coverts (Message and Taylor 2005). 

 

Juvenile birds are similar looking to non-breeding adult but have fresh buffy-whitish notched spots on scapulars, wing-coverts, and tertials (Message and Taylor 2005). These spots are greatly reduced on Wandering Tattler (O’Brien et al. 2006). The Gray-tailed Tattler also has a very pale face and throat (Message and Taylor 2005). The light grayish wash of the neck and chest does not extend onto the sides or flanks (Message and Taylor 2005). On Wandering Tattler, the grayish wash on face, the neck and upper breast is darker, and the gray extends down the sides to the flanks (Paulson 2005).

 

Non-breeding adult Gray-tailed Tattler has white flanks which are dark gray on the Wandering Tattler (Message and Taylor 2005).

 

Gray-tailed Tattler shows three to four primary feathers beyond the tail tip, whereas Wandering Tattler shows 4-5 primary feathers beyond the tail tip (Message and Taylor 2005). The Gray-tailed Tattler has a shorter nasal groove (about the half the bill length, which is useful in close-up photographs or very close views) and has scales that are scutellated at rear edge to the tarsus, whereas, Wandering Tattler has a long nasal groove on the bill (about two-thirds of the bill) and the scales on the tarsi are reticulated (Paulson 2005).

The Gray-tailed Tattler is best distinguished by its voice (O’Brien et al. 2006).  The flight call is an up-slurred whistled “tuwi-di-di”, similar to the sound of a Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula), and not at all like the ringing “didididididi” call given by the Wandering Tattler (O’Brien et al. 2006).

The Gray-tailed Tattler is an accidental migrant vagrant in British Columbia with an adult found and photographed by Joachim Bertrands and Christian Kelly in Kitimat, British Columbia from June 23-26, 2020 (D. Cecile Pers. Comm.). Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, many observers were able to travel to see and photograph the bird over its three days stay (D. Cecile Pers. Comm.). This bird was most likely a spring overshoot from the Aleutian Islands as the timing of this bird fits an overall pattern of vagrancy by birds from Asia that move across the Aleutian Islands chain in the month of May and early June (Gibson and Withrow 2015).

Any out of place Tattler found in sewage ponds, mudflats or sandy beach habitat should be carefully scrutinized and photographed for being a possible Gray-tailed Tattler. All known shorebird hotspots should be checked for this species as it is a regular migrant in Alaska and is likely to be found again somewhere in the province in the future.

 

I want to thank Don Cecile for tracking down the details of the Gray-tailed Tattler sighting in Kitimat, British Columbia and for reviewing the manuscript. I wish to thank Joachim Bertrands for allowing us to use his pictures of the Gray-tailed Tattler in Kitimat. The photograph of the wintering Wandering Tattler in Victoria was provided originally to be used with permission by the late David Allinson. All photos are used with permission of the photographer and are fully protected by copyright law. Photographs are not to be reproduced, published or retransmitted on any website without the authorization of the photographer.

Amano, T., T. Szekely, K. Koyama, H. Amano, W. J. Sutherland. 2010. A framework for monitoring the status of populations: an example from wader populations in the East Asian-Australasian flyway. Biological Conservation 143: 2238-2247.

 

BirdLife International. 2020. Species factsheet: Tringa brevipes. [Online resource] Retrieved from http://www.birdlife.org [Accessed on July 22, 2020].

 

Brazil, M. 2009. Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia: Eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London.

 

Carr, P. 2015. Birds of the British Indian Ocean Territory, Chagos archipelago, central Indian Ocean. Indian Birds 10(3–4): 57–70.

 

DeCicco, L. H., D. D. Gibson, T. G. Tobish, Jr., S. C. Heinl, N. R. Hajdukovich, J. A. Johnson, and C. W. Wright. 2017. Birds of Middleton Island, a Unique Landfall for migrants in the Gulf of Alaska. Western Birds 48(4): 214-295. 

 

Dutson, G. 2011. Birds of Melanesia: The Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Christopher Helm, London.

 

e-bird database. 2020, July 21. Explore Species: Gray-tailed Tattler. [Online Resource] Retrieved from https://ebird.org/canada/map/gyttat1?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2020 [Accessed: July 21, 2020]

 

Garnett, S. T., J.K. Szabo, G. Dutson. 2011. The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood.

 

Hamilton, R. A., M. A. Patten, and R. A. Erickson. 2007. Rare Birds of California: A work of the California rare bird record committee. Western Field Ornithologists, Camarillo, California. 605pp.

 

Hayman, P., J. Marchant and T. Prater. 1986. Shorebirds: An identification guide to the waders of the world. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

 

Howell, S. N. G., I. Lewington, and W. Russell. 2014. Rare Birds of North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey & Oxford.

 

Jones, J. 2018. Grey-tailed Tattler on Terceira, Azores, in July-September 2017. Dutch Birding 40(3): 171–174

 

Lewington, I., Alstrom, P., and Colston, P. 1992. A Field Guide to the Rare Birds of Britain and Europe. Jersey: Domino Books Ltd., Jersey, UK. 448pp.

 

MacKinnon, J., Y. I. Verkuil, N. Murray. 2012. IUCN situation analysis on East and Southeast Asian intertidal habitats, with particular reference to the Yellow Sea (including the Bohai Sea). Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

 

Message, S. and D. Taylor. 2005. Shorebirds of North America, Europe and Asia: A Guide to Identification. Princeton University Press, New Jersey.

 

O’Brien, M., R. Crossley, and K. Karlson. 2006. The Shorebird Guide. Houghton Mifflin Co., New York. 477pp.

 

Paulson, D. 1986. Identification of juvenile Tattlers, and a Gray-tailed Tattler record from Washington. Western Birds 17(1): 33–36.

 

Paulson, D. 2005. Shorebirds of North America: The Photographic Guide. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. 362pp

 

Piek, A. and R. Slaterus. 2010. Siberische Grijze Ruiter bij IJmuiden in juli 251151. Dutch Birding 32(5): 320–323.

 

Robson, C. 2002. From the field. Bull. Oriental Bird Club 35: 83–93.

 

Safford, R. J. and R. Basque. 2007. Records of migrants and amendments to the status of exotics on Mauritius in 1989–93. Bull. Afr. Bird Club 14(1): 26–35.

 

Safford, R. J., and A. F. A. Hawkins eds. 2013. The Birds of Africa. Vol. 8. The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London.

 

Showler, D. A. 2002. Bird observations on the Indian Ocean islands of Rodriguez, March–June 1999. Bull. Afr. Bird Club 9(1): 16–24.

 

Stenning, J. and P. Hirst. 1994. The Grey-tailed Tattler in Grampian – the second Western Palearctic record. Birding World 7(12): 469–472.

 

Thompson, J. J. 1998. Interseasonal changes in shorebird habitat specialisation in Moreton Bay, Australia. Emu. 98(2): 117–126.

 

Thompson, P. M., W. G. Harvey, D. L. Johnson, D. J. Millin, S. M. A. Rashid, D. A. Scott, C. Stanfield, and J. D. Woolner. 1993. Recent notable bird records from Bangladesh. Forktail 9: 13–44.  

 

Thompson, P. M. and D. L. Johnson. 2003. Further notable bird records from Bangladesh. Forktail 19: 85–102. 

 

Thorpe, R. I. 1995. Grey-tailed Tattler in Wales: new to Britain and Ireland. British Birds 88(6): 255–262.

 

van der Berg, A. B. 2003. W. P. Reports July to mid-September 2003. Dutch Birds 35: 334-344.

 

Van Gils, J., P. Wiersma, G. M. Kirwan, and C.J. Sharpe. 2020. Gray-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. [Online Resource] Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gyttat1.01 [Accessed: July 22, 2020].

 

Wahl, T. R., B. Tweit, and S. Mlodinow. 2005. Birds of Washington: Status and Distribution. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon. 436pp.

 

Wetlands International. 2014. Waterbird Population Estimates. [Online Resource] Retrieved from  http://wpe.wetlands.org. [Accessed July 22, 2020].

 

Zhen-ming Ge, Tian-hou Wang, Xiao Zhou, Kai-Yun Wang and Wen-yu Shi. 2007. Changes in the spatial distribution of migratory shorebirds along the Shanghai shoreline, China, between 1984 and 2004. Emu 107(1): 19–27.