Common Greenshank

The common greenshank is a subarctic wader, brown in breeding plumage and grey-brown in winter, with long greenish legs and a long bill with a grey base. It is somewhat larger than the common redshank and shows a white wedge up the back in flight. In water it can look very like a marsh sandpiper, but the shape of the lower mandible gives its bill a slightly upturned look. The usual call is a rapid series of three fluty notes, teu-teu-teu. Its closest relative is the greater yellowlegs (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds on dry ground near marshy areas from northern Scotland east across the Palearctic, laying about four eggs in a ground scrape, and migrates to Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Australasia for the winter, usually to fresh water. Like most waders it feeds on small invertebrates, but it also takes small fish and amphibians. In India it is a winter migrant with a very large range. SoIB 2023 estimates a long-term decline of about 63% and a current fall of about 4.5% a year, and rates it a High conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).