Tringa totanus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The common redshank or simply redshank (Tringa totanus) is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Scolopax totanus. It is now placed with twelve other species in the genus Tringa that Linnaeus had introduced in 1758. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific totanus is from Tótano, the Italian name for this bird.
Six subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natura Artis Magistra | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 2 | Dresden Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Paris Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Aquarium du palais de la Porte Dorée | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Parc animalier de Sainte-Croix | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Eekholt Wildlife Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | hipopotamiarnia i akwarium morskie warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Common Redshank sighting in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 141st most-seen of the 166 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Redshank in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–August and October–January, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Redshank sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
23rd of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Common Redshank sightings, Udawalawe National Park ranks 23rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Sundarbans National Park (India, about 60%), Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, about 50%) and Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Tringa
The closest relatives of the Common Redshank that you can see in Udawalawe National Park (genus Tringa, Shanks, Tattlers, and Allies) are Wood Sandpiper (about 20%), Marsh Sandpiper (about 10%) and Common Greenshank (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Redshank is recorded against all the birds logged in Udawalawe National Park (13 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
