Common Greenshank

Tringa nebularia

Other Names

  Greenshank, Greater Greenshank   Chevalier aboyeur   Grünschenkel   Archibebe Claro   Gluttsnäppa   Groenpootruiter   Pantana

World: Northern Britain, Scandinavia and from there in a band E through N Europe and C Asia to eastern Siberia and Kamchatka. Overwinters from western Europe, through the Mediterannean region to Africa, the Middle East, S Asia and through Indonesia to Australasia.

Kenya: A winter visitor and passage migrant from August to May. Found around most types of water but particularly common at the coast.

May occur in large numbers at tidal roosts but also found singly. Its diet is chiefly invertebrates (paricularly beetles and their larvae) but they will also take molluscs, worms and small vertebrates such as frogs or fish. They have also been reported as feeding on rodents. They have 2 main methods of feeding, they either peck and probe the water for their prey or they hold their long bill flat and scythe it backwards and forwards through the water.