• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Justification of Red List category
This species is listed as Endangered because it has a very small population which is declining as a result of the development of coastal wetlands throughout its range, principally for industry, infrastructure projects and aquaculture.

Population justification
Global population size of this species was previously estimated to number less than 1,000 birds (e.g. BirdLife International 2001) but more recent count data from its southbound migration has found this evidently to be an underestimate. Cao et al. (2023) revised this estimate to 1,500-2,000 birds, based on counts of at least 1,194 individuals at Tiaozini alone in September 2021, with additional birds counted at neighbouring Xiaoyangkou and Dongling taking the minimum number to c.1,300. They concluded that the latter total was unlikely to represent the total number of birds due to survey effort, but concluded it probably represents the majority of the global population. The estimate of 1,500-2,000 (Cao et al. 2023) is therefore accepted here. Because these counts are made post-breeding, it is unlikely that they all refer to mature individuals, although the percentage that are is not well known. To account for uncertainty in this calculation, 60-80% are suspected to be mature individuals, leaving a total population size of 900-1,600 mature individuals.

Trend justification
Current trend effectively unknown but precautionarily inferred to be declining following previous evidence for declines on breeding grounds. The recent increase in estimated population size (e.g. BirdLife International [2001] vs current assessment) is highly unlikely to reflect a genuine increase in abundance, with an increase in monitoring and coordination of counts, particularly on staging grounds in eastern China, allowing for a refinement in population size (see Cao et al. 2023).

Against historical descriptions of abundance, there can be little double that this species has declined. For example, the population has declined in Bangladesh from c.300 to c.40-50 (Maleko et al . 2021), while the vast scale of land-reclamation in South Korea effectively extirpated the species from Saemangeum after 2006 (Moores et al. 2016). While land reclamation has slowed in recent years, invasive Spartina cordgrass continues to heavily degrade large areas of suitable habitat (IUCN 2023), although counts of the species at key staging and wintering sites have scarcely changed in the last five years. Accordingly the current trend is difficult to determine, although it is precautionarily inferred to be declining due to the continuation of threats which have been proven to drive population declines in the past. The congregation of large percentages of this species' population render it particularly vulnerable, and large areas of coastal wetlands across the East Asian-Australasian Flyway lack formal protection (Xia et al. 2017, Li et al. 2019), including important wintering grounds in the Inner Gulf of Thailand (Zöckler et al. 2018), while hunting and trapping also remains an acute threat (Maleko et al. 2021). In the absence of robust monitoring data, rates of decline are not, however, estimated.

This species breeds in eastern Russia. Small numbers probably breed on Sakhalin Island, but more recent data are lacking (Maleko et al. 2021). The species otherwise breeds along the Tatar Strait and bays along the Okhotsk coastline (see Maleko et al. 2021 for detailed review). The species migrates along the Russian coastline, through the Korean Peninsula and (locally) in Japan. The entire world population probably migrates through China, with most staging in southern Jiangsu Province, chiefly at three sites: Tiaozini, Xiaoyangkou and Dongling (Gao et al. 2021, Cao et al. 2023, eBird 2024). Birds winter more widely in South-East Asia, including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Malaysia and Indonesia. A wintering population has relatively recently been found in Manila Bay, the Philippines (eBird 2024).

Its breeding habitat is a combination of sparse larch Larix forest for nesting, wet coastal meadows interspersed with piles of driftwood, and coastal mudflats which are used by the adults for feeding. Wintering birds usually frequent estuaries, coastal mudflats and lowland swamps, and sometimes damp meadows, saltpans and rice-fields.

T. guttifer is endemic to the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), which has the highest rate of habitat loss of any of the flyways (MacKinnon et al. 2012). This species is particularly vulnerable to habitat loss as it requires specific habitats for its breeding and roosting sites (Maleko et al. 2021), which are limited in their extent (Pronkevich and Voronov 1990, Blokhin 1998, Yu et al. 2019). Habitat loss within the EAAF stems from a multitude of sources. A rapidly growing human population in Asia means that large areas of wetlands are converted to artificial agricultural wetlands (Bai et al. 2015), with declines in the species’ numbers expected in densely occupied areas (Thompson et al. 1993, 2014). Even in areas of low human density (i.e., Sea of Okhost coast, Russia), human occupation is concentrated in areas preferred by the species such as deltas and estuaries (BirdLife International 2001).

Increasing development to support expanding cities results in the further loss and fragmentation of wetlands and coastal habitats (MacKinnon et al. 2012), and often requires reclamation which degrades or entirely removes suitable habitat, and has additional impacts through pollution, increased algal blooms, and changes to water salinity and sedimentation regimes (Moores et al. 2008). Specifically, Bangkok is now encroaching into the Inner Gulf of Thailand, a main overwintering area for the species (Round 2006, Li et al. 2007, Zöckler et al. 2018), reclamation of tidal flats in Saemangeum, South Korea, has depleted the small number of individuals that pass through there (Moores et al. 2016), and the fossil-fuel extraction industry in Russia has caused the likely extirpation of the species from their northern Sakhalin breeding grounds (Nechaev 1989, Leonov 2000). The by-products of extraction activities also degrade wetland habitats, as does debris from large-scale logging (Nechaev 1989, Artukhin 2016), rubble from human settlements (Nechaev 1989, Newell 2004), and industrial, agricultural, and domestic pollutants (Barter 2002, Tong 2012, Wang et al. 2018). Oil spills are also a common occurrence South China and Yellow Seas, and plastic pollution is widespread, which can reduce access to important sites, be ingested, contaminate feeding sites, or ensnare animals (MacKinnon et al. 2012). Renewable energy can also pose a threat to the species, such as the offshore wind farm in Rudong, China which displaces birds and may cause collisions (Peng et al. 2017).

Hunting and trapping are a significant threat to the species and occur significantly in several important regions for the species, including Russia (Nechaev 1989, Artukhin 2016, Tiunov 2016), China (Severinghaus and Chi 1999, Tokranov 2006), and Southeast Asia (BirdLife International 2001).

Invasive and native species also pose a threat to T. guttifer. Spartina alterniflora has rapidly spread through central Asian intertidal ecosystems (Wang et al. 2018) and reduces foraging habitat (Yang et al. 2020, IUCN 2023).

Additional threats to the species include climate change which can cause declines due to the loss of coastal habitats through sea-level rise and/or increased natural disasters (Robarts et al. 2013, Wang et al. 2018, Yu et al. 2020), loss of nesting sites comprising cold-adapted vegetation (Leng et al. 2008, Bai et al. 2019, Zhang et al. 2019), changes in fire regimes (Shvidenko and Schepaschenko 2013, Liu 2016), and altered migration patterns (MacKinnon et al. 2012). Further, anthropogenic disturbance in a myriad of forms (Barter 2002, Pronkevich and Voronov 2013, Artukhin 2016) and avian diseases (Maleko et al. 2021) also pose a threat to the species.

Local governments in the EAAF are resistant to designating coastal wetlands as Protected Areas as it may limit future opportunities for economic growth, and furthermore, they are often designated based on low commercial value rather than high biodiversity value (Xia et al. 2017). With formal protection lacking in the vast majority of the species range (Maleko et al. 2021), further habitat loss and impacts are expected.

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix I. CMS Appendix II.

In China, 14 wetlands, including Yancheng NNR, were added to the World Heritage Tentative List in 2016. In 2019, two sections of the Jiangsu Province mudflats were nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites under “Migratory Bird Sanctuaries”, including Tiaozini Wetland Park. Xiaoyangkou, another critically important area, has been proposed as a National Marine Protected Area. Other habitat has received some form of protection including near Pak Thale, Thailand, and Nijhum Dwip Marine Protected Area, Bangladesh. Steps have also been taken to proteect key sites along the Sea of Okhotskm and Schaste Bay, Russia. There are several other Protected Areas in Russia that may support the species.

China is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to clear tidal mudflats of Spartina cordgrass, with the aim of eliminating 90% of it by 2025; locally, this has already been successful, for example at Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve (Stokstad 2023). The Asian Waterbird Census conducts annual comprehensive waterbird surveys and has significantly contributed to the understanding of the species’ critical sites throughout their overwintering range (Li et al. 2009, Mundkur et al 2017).

Conservation Actions Proposed
Further research and monitoring is required to improve information on the species' distribution, demography, life-history, breeding and non-breeding ecology, limiting factors, and important sites. Information regarding these factors from breeding grounds, and specifically breeding surveys from Russia, would greatly contribute to the development of a conservation plan for the species.

Identifying, protecting, and safeguarding key sites from future development is crucial for the long-term stability of the species. Any established protected areas need to coincide with effective management and abundant regional support, and the focus should be on creating a network of key sites. Artificial wetlands can also be beneficial to the species, and establishing partnerships between multiple stakeholders should be a focus to ensure they are appropriately-managed permanent fixtures that benefit both shorebirds and people. Research to determine and establish restoration projects in key areas is vital, as is continuing and preserving current restoration projects.

Viable methods need to be developed for controlling smooth cordgrass throughout China and the Korean peninsula to restore ecosystem viability and prevent further intertidal habitat loss.

Research and monitoring is required to better understand the drivers of hunting and poaching of the species, and to identify actions to prevent this threat. The focus should be on alternative livelihoods rather than enforcement/compliance measures, as this is more likely to produce mutually beneficial outcomes. However, compliance and enforcement will still be necessary in some instances, as will no-hunting laws in local communities.

Enhancing communication, education, and public awareness of the values of migratory waterbirds, as well as building the capacity of managers and stake-holders, will be important to achieving conservations goals for the species in much of its range.

29-32 cm. Medium-sized sandpiper with slightly upturned, bicoloured bill and shortish yellow legs. Breeding adults are boldly marked, with whitish spots and spangling on blackish upperside, heavily streaked head and upper neck, broad blackish crescentic spots on lower neck and breast and darker lores. In flight, shows all-white uppertail-coverts and rather uniform greyish tail. Toes do not extend beyond tail tip. Juvenile is browner above than non-breeding adult, has whitish notching on scapular and tertial fringes, pale buff wing-covert fringes and faintly brown-washed breast with faint dark streaks at sides. Similar spp. Common Greenshank T. nebularia has longer, greener legs, longer neck, less obviously bicoloured bill, and more obviously streaked crown, nape and breast-sides. Voice Call is distinctive kwork or gwaak.

Text account compilers
Berryman, A.

Contributors
Boyle, A., Bunting, G., Iqbal, M., Lappo, E., Li, Z.W.D., Moores, N., Harris, B., Bai, Q., Tong, M., Fu, V., Sheldon, R., Sutasha, K., Crosby, M., Ashpole, J, Benstead, P., Gilroy, J., Pilgrim, J. & Taylor, J.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Spotted Greenshank Tringa guttifer. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/spotted-greenshank-tringa-guttifer on 25/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 25/12/2024.