Aron Tanti

Green Sandpiper breeds in various types of moist, forested landscapes, generally avoiding large open areas. Outside the breeding season it occurs on a variety of primarily freshwater habitats, generally not associated with woodlands. Its breeding range stretches from Scandinavia and C Europe to E Siberia with European strongholds in Russia, Finland and Sweden (Keller et al. 2020, Van Gils et al. 2020). It is a Eurasian-African migrant with European populations wintering mostly in W & S Europe, the Mediterranean region and W and C Africa.

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Season of assessment

B

Population trendUnknown
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		1180000-1850000,1470000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Green Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper is a long-distance migrant moving overland SW and S on a broad front (Van Gils et al. 2020). Birds breeding in N Europe take mainly SW routes towards their wintering grounds in NW, W and SW Europe and the W Mediterranean (incl. N Africa); some continue further S to W Africa (Ivory Coast). A few also migrate S to the C & E Mediterranean, with some reaching C Africa for the winter. C European breeders take both SW and S routes to W and SW Europe, and the W Mediterranean region with some wintering as far as Mali, W Africa. A bird marked in Italy has been recovered wintering in Senegal. Birds from the E European population are encountered in Bulgaria (from Latvia) (Nankinov 1998), N Africa (Belarus), the Middle East (Ukraine, Russia) and S Asia (E European Russia).

Recoveries by Condition for Green Sandpiper

Most recoveries are after 2010. The majority are on autumn migration or in winter (82% in Aug-Feb). The bulk of encounters are in NW Europe (81%). The percentage of recoveries of dead birds was stable until 1990 (62-66%), then markedly decreased to less than 1% from 1991; recoveries of live birds have increased from ~30% before 1991 to almost 100% since then. Shooting was responsible for 44% of all recoveries before 1991, but is now negligible. Most shot birds are reported from W & SW Europe and the W Mediterranean (2nd half of 20th century), while most live birds are reported from N Europe (last 10 years). Most of the distant (>=50 km) recoveries have moved <2,000 km, although some move more than 5,500 km.

Annual Movements for Green Sandpiper

Post-breeding dispersal starts early to mid-Jun and autumn migration is most intensive Aug-Sep with birds having left most breeding sites by early to mid-Oct. Birds arrive S of the Sahara in early Aug, reaching S Africa in Sep (Delany et al. 2009). In mild winters some birds stay as far N as S Scandinavia (Van Gils et al. 2020). Spring migration starts Feb-Mar, the latest ringing encounters from W & C Africa are from mid- to late Mar. Late migrants are present in Africa until early Apr (Van Gils et al. 2020). Spring passage through the Mediterranean  is mainly in Mar. Breeding sites are reached mostly in Apr (late Mar-early May depending on latitude). Birds migrating in late May in N Europe are mostly non-breeding 2nd year individuals (Noskov et al. 2016).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Green Sandpiper

Post-breeding movements start very early, in mid-summer, females leave first followed by males and then juveniles. Autumn migration is mainly in late summer to early autumn. The sub-Saharan wintering grounds in Africa are reached as early as late summer, but mostly from early and mid-autumn onwards (Delany et al. 2009). Birds wintering in S England have a very high return rate (Smith et al. 1992) as do those from W Africa and C Europe (Van Gils et al. 2020). Return migration in Africa takes place mostly in late winter-early spring. Most breeding grounds in Europe are occupied mid- to late spring. Numerous birds marked in SE England during migration and in winter are encountered in S Scandinavia during the breeding season. Recovery data from SE & E Europe are very limited.

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
2009 . An Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. Wetlands International, Wageningen, The NetherlandsEditor(s): Delany, S., Scott, D., Dodman, T. & Stroud, D.
Nankinov, D.1998 . Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola and Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus in Bulgaria. International Wader Studies 10: 370–374
Noskov, G. A., Rymkevich, T. A., Gaginskaya, A. R. 2016 . Migration of Birds on Northwest Russia. Non-Passerines. ANO LA “Professional”, Saint Petersburg
Smith, K. W., Reed, J. M., Trevis, B. E. 1992 . Habitat use and site fidelity of Green Sandpipers Tringa ochropus wintering in Southern England. Bird Study 39: 155–164
Van Gils, J., P. Wiersma, and G. M. Kirwan 2020 . Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grnsan.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA

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