Common Greenshank

The Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Its closest relative is the Greater Yellowlegs, together with which and the Spotted Redshank it forms a close-knit group. Among them, these three species show all the basic leg and foot colours found in the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic (Pereira & Baker, 2005). They are also the largest shanks apart from the Willet, which is altogether more robustly built. The Greater Yellowlegs and the Common Greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in breeding plumage