Spotted Redshank
Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus )
The redshank (Tringa erythropus ) is a bird of the order Charadriiformes ( Charadriiformes ) and is also called dark water striders. He is a breeding bird of the Arctic and the northern boreal forest zone. In Central Europe it is a regular migrant along the coast and inland during migration periods. During the height of the train can be observed in the Netherlands 5,000 to 10,000 individuals. In small numbers wintering redshank also in Belgium, the Dutch Rhine delta and the north- west of Germany.
Features
The redshank is 29-33 cm long, has a wingspan of 47-53 cm and 135-250 g in weight. The male carries in summer a sooty black colored plumage with long, dark red legs. In winter dress the animal inconspicuous is gray brown in color with white spots and looks very similar to the redshank. The redshank is larger, has no white wing bars and a longer, only hand thinner red beak that is curved at the top to the bottom. He often wades in belly deep water, it is even deeper, he can swim.
Reputation for being a loud " tjuit ", the bird carries mostly monosyllabic or loosely strung before.
The highest documented age of a dark water strider was 6 years and 2 months.
Occurrence
The redshank lives on sand banks and in shallow waters in the inland and the sea. It breeds in Lapland and Siberia. The redshank is a long-distance migrant, whose soundtrack winter quarters are in Africa. Of special importance is the Sahel to Sudan and the East African highlands. However, numerous birds overwinter the southern coast of the Mediterranean and Western Asia. Wintering areas are also available in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. In Western and Southern Europe overwinter only a very small number.
In Central Europe, the bird can be seen especially in the autumn passage in the period from early August to late October and spring passage from early April to late May.
Habitat
The redshank breed on the dry to wet, often boggy ground in open areas of the tundra and taiga. During the acceleration and the winter rest he keeps on to fresh and brackish waters on mud and mud flats. At the Waddencoast he usually seeks to country near zones and can be observed in bays and salt marshes. In the interior he uses the shallow water zones of water bodies and wet or flooded meadows and sewage farms.
Food
The bird feeds mainly on small fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic insects in all stages of development, after which he studied in shallow water. In the Wadden Sea his diet of crustaceans, annelids and molluscs dominated.
Reproduction
The redshank nests from May to July on damp grass, moss or lichen ground. The nest consists of 4 eggs and is used almost exclusively incubated by the male. The female tends to polyandry.
Stock
The European breeding bird population is estimated at the beginning of the 21st century 19000-42000 breeding pairs. Of these, about 10,000 to 15,000 breeding pairs in Finland, from 2000 to 6000 in Norway and 2,000 to 10,000 in the European part of Russia. More 5000-11000 breeding pairs live in Sweden. In Sweden, is made since the 1960s, an area of about two hundred kilometers to the south.
The redshank is one of the species that will be particularly affected by climate change. A research team, commissioned by the British Environment Agency and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds examined the future diffusion trend of European breeding birds based on climate models, assumes that by the end of the 21st century, the area of distribution of the dark water strider two third decrease and will move to the northeast. Today's and future distribution area hardly overlap. Receive Isolated remains only a small area in northern Sweden and Finland. Potentially new distribution areas are in the far north of Russia to the south of Novaya Zemlya.