Common Redshank
Tringa totanus
Also known as: Redshank, Gamba Roja Vulgar
Habitat
Aquatic
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
129 g
About This Species
Look for a slim, orange-legged wader picking its way across estuary mud and saltmarsh, bobbing its head and probing the ooze for worms and small invertebrates. It is one of the noisiest waders around, giving a loud, ringing 'tew-hu-hu' when disturbed, which often gives its position away before you spot it. Passage periods and winter bring the largest numbers to coastal mudflats, with birds often gathering in loose flocks at the tideline as the water recedes.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Stay on paths or seawalls and use a scope or long lens rather than walking out onto open mud, which is both disturbing to feeding birds and often unsafe underfoot.
- Wading birds on estuaries are protected under national wildlife laws across much of their range, and reserves frequently post their own minimum viewing distances, so check local signage before approaching a flock.
- Keep well back from roosting groups at high tide, since flushing a flock burns energy they need for the next low-tide feeding window.
LCAvesCharadriiformesScolopacidae
Seasonal Activity
2,546,222 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Aquatic
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 129 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.