Identification and comparison of

Grey-tailed and Wandering Tattlers

Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes

Common summer visitor. Medium-sized (24-27 cm), plain grey above and white below, with straight dark bill and yellow legs. White eyebrows meet above bill and extend behind eye. Grey flanks often concealed. Shows uniformly grey upperparts in flight. In breeding plumage fine grey bars cover the breast and flanks. Flight call a rising disyllabic whistle. Mudflats, sandy beaches and rock platforms.

Wandering Tattler Tringa incana

Uncommon summer visitor. Medium-sized (26-29 cm), slate grey above and white below, with straight dark bill and yellow legs. Very similar to Grey-tailed Tattler. White eyebrows do not meet above bill and are indistinct behind eye. Grey flanks often visible. Shows uniformly grey upperparts in flight. In breeding plumage broad grey bars cover almost the entire underparts. Flight call a rippling trill. Rocky shorelines.

General: Grey-tailed are slightly smaller and slightly paler than Wandering. Grey-tailed generally prefer mudflats and sandy beaches, whereas Wandering are found almost exclusively along rocky shorelines.

Plumage (non-breeding): Grey-tailed has upperparts paler grey than darker Wandering, and grey flanks are often, but not always, concealed beneath folded wings. Wandering usually displays grey flanks. Wing tips of Grey-tailed extend only a little past tail, but in Wandering usually extend further beyond tail. Grey-tailed eyebrows meet on forehead above bill and extend past eyes, whereas smaller white eyebrows of Wandering do not meet on forehead and are indistinct behind eyes. The white on throat of Grey-tailed is more extensive than Wandering and merges, with streaking, onto upper breast. The white on throat of Wandering ends discretely on lower throat.

Bill: Wandering has slightly heavier bill than Grey-tailed. Grey-tailed has shorter nasal grooves than Wandering that extend barely half the length of bill. Wandering has nasal grooves that extend well beyond middle of bill. This feature is of limited use in the field.

Legs: Grey-tailed has scales on rear of legs between 'ankle' and 'knee' that form laddered and overlapping patterns. On Wandering these scales form net-like non-overlapping patterns from the bottom of the legs upwards, these patterns persisting for a variable distance up the legs before they, too, become laddered and overlapping. This feature is normally of use only if the bird is in the hand or if a detailed photograph is taken.

Flight: Grey-tailed has plain grey upperparts with slightly paler tail and faintly barred upper tail compared to uniformly slate grey upperparts of Wandering.

Call: Arguably, the most reliable way of separating these two species is by their distinctive flight calls. Grey-tailed gives a rising disyllabic whistle, whilst Wandering gives a plaintive rippling trill, reminiscent of Whimbrel.

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