Spotted Redshank

A slender, long-legged wader that breeds on Arctic tundra and winters across coastal wetlands, estuaries and flooded fields in Europe, Africa and Asia, often wading belly-deep while sweeping its bill side to side for food. Breeding adults are strikingly sooty black, while winter and passage birds are pale grey above and white below, best distinguished by the needle-fine bill and bright red legs. Estuaries and managed wetlands in autumn and winter offer the most reliable views, often among mixed flocks of other waders.