The Terek sandpiper (Xenus cinereus ) is a small migratory Palearctic wader species and is the only member of the genus Xenus. It is named after the Terek River which flows into the west of the Caspian Sea, as it was first observed around this area.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withSlightly larger than the common sandpiper at 22–25 cm (8.7–9.8 in) length, its long upcurved bill – somewhat reminiscent of an avocet's, but not as strongly curved – makes it very distinctive. As the scientific specific name implies, this wader has a grey back, face and breast in all plumages; a white supercilium may appear more or less distinct. The belly is whitish and the feet yellow; the bill has a yellowish base, with the rest being black.
The call is a high whistle.
This bird breeds near water in the taiga from Finland through northern Siberia to the Kolyma River, and migrate south in winter to tropical coasts in east Africa, south Asia and Australia, usually preferring muddy areas. It is a rare vagrant in western Europe, and particularly in autumn it is sometimes seen passing through the Marianas on migration; on Palau, further off its usual migration route, it is decidedly uncommon on the other hand. Almost annually and apparently more and more often in recent times, a few birds stray to Alaska and the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. Every few years, individual vagrants are recorded in the Neotropics, where they arrive either as migrating birds from Africa, or as North American strays accompanying local waders south for winter. Such vagrants have been recorded as far south as Argentina.
The overall genetic variation in Terek sandpipers across their range is low, with some evidence of contractions followed by expansion. Although the geographically isolated Dniephe River population in Eastern Europe does show significant genetic differentiation.
It feeds in a distinctive and very active way, chasing insects and other mobile prey, and sometimes then running to the water's edge to wash its catch.
It lays three or four eggs in a lined ground scrape.
The Terek sandpiper likes to associate with ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres ), smallish calidrids, and Charadrius (but maybe not Pluvialis ) plovers; a vagrant bird at Paraty (Rio de Janeiro state) was noted to pair up with a spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius ). Thus it may be that the Terek sandpiper under natural conditions may mate with common sandpiper (A. hypoleucos ), the Old World sister species of spotted sandpiper (A. macularius ). As hybridisation in shorebirds is extremely commonplace and Actitis is among the closer relatives of the Terek sandpiper, such pairings (should they indeed occur) may produce hybrid offspring.
This is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Widespread and often quite commonly seen, the Terek sandpiper is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...