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{{Taxobox
| name = Terek sandpiper
| image = Xenus cinereus (Alnus).jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{IUCN|id=22693251 |title=''Xenus cinereus'' |assessor=BirdLife International |assessor-link=BirdLife International |version=2013.2 |year=2012 |accessdate=26 November 2013}}</ref>
| regnum = [[Animalia]]
| phylum = [[Chordata]]
| classis = [[Aves]]
| subclassis = [[Neornithes]]
| infraclassis = [[Neognathae]]
| superordo = [[Neoaves]]
| ordo = [[Charadriiformes]]
| subordo = Scolopaci
| familia = [[Scolopacidae]]
| genus = '''''Xenus '''''
| genus_authority = [[Johann Jakob Kaup|Kaup]], 1829
| species = '''''X. cinereus'''''
| binomial = ''Xenus cinereus''
| binomial_authority = ([[Johann Anton Güldenstädt|Güldenstädt]], 1775)
| synonyms =
''Tringa cinerea''<br />
''Tringa terek''
}}

The '''Terek sandpiper''' (''Xenus cinereus'') is a small [[bird migration|migratory]] [[Palearctic]] [[wader]] [[species]], the [[Monotypic taxon|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.<ref name=Carnaby2009/> The genus name ''Xenus'' is from [[Ancient Greek]] ''xenos'' stranger, and ''cinereus'' is [[Latin]] for "ash-grey" from ''cinis, cineris'', "ashes".<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=107, 411}}</ref>

==Description and systematics==
[[File:Xenus cinereus Lapland.JPG|thumb|left]]
Slightly larger than the [[common sandpiper]] at {{convert|22|–|25|cm|in|abbr=on}} 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 [[plumage]]s; a white [[supercilium]] may appear more or less distinct. The belly is whitish and the feet yellow; the [[beak|bill]] has a yellowish base, with the rest being black.

The call is a high whistle.

Among the [[Scolopacidae]], ''Xenus'' is part of the [[Tringa|shank]]-[[Tattler (bird)|tattler]]-[[phalarope]] [[clade]] and less closely related to the [[calidrid]] sandpipers. Based on the degree of [[DNA sequence]] divergence and putative shank and phalarope [[fossil]]s from around the [[Oligocene]]/[[Miocene]] boundary some 23–22 [[million years ago]], the Terek sandpiper presumably diverged from their relatives in the [[Late Oligocene]]. Given the numerous [[basal (evolution)|basal]] fossils of the group found in [[Eurasia]] it is likely that the Terek sandpiper lineage originated there, possibly by being isolated as the remains of the [[Turgai Sea]] dried up, which happened just around this time.<ref name=Mlikovsky2002/><ref name=Paton2003/><ref name=Thomas2004/>

==Distribution and ecology==
This bird breeds near water in the [[taiga]] from [[Finland]] through northern [[Siberia]] to the [[Kolyma River]], and [[bird migration|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 Islands|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]].<ref name=Wiles2004/><ref name=VanderWerf2006/><ref name=White2006/>

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 turnstone]]s (''Arenaria interpres''), smallish [[calidrid]]s, and ''[[Charadrius]]'' (but maybe not ''[[Pluvialis]]'') [[plover]]s; a vagrant bird at [[Paraty]] ([[Rio de Janeiro state]]) was noted to pair up with a [[spotted sandpiper]] (''Actitis macularius'').<ref name=White2006/> 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 (biology)|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]].<ref name=BLI/>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Terek Sandpiper, Little Stint, Marsh Sandpiper, C Redshank W2 IMG 6891.jpg|Terek sandpiper ''Xenus cinereus'', [[little stint]] ''Calidris minuta'' and [[marsh sandpiper]] ''Tringa stagnatilis'' in [[Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary]], [[Andhra Pradesh]], [[India]].
File:Xenus cinereus eating ragworm.JPG|Eating ragworm in [[Shōnai River]], [[Japan]].
File:Xenus cinereus MWNH 0248.JPG|Egg, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden]]
File:Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) (8079446567).jpg|In flight
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=BLI>{{cite web |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22693251 |publisher=BirdLife International |year=2008 |title=Species factsheet: Xenus cinereus |website=www.birdlife.org}}</ref>

<ref name=Carnaby2009>{{cite book |last=Carnaby |first=Trevor |title=Beat About the Bush Birds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hh11gLdZyDgC&pg=PA77 |accessdate=5 June 2012 |year=2009 |publisher=Jacana Media |isbn=978-1-77009-241-9 |page=77}}</ref>

<ref name=Mlikovsky2002>{{cite book |last=Mlíkovský |first=Jiří |year=2002 |title=Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe |publisher=Ninox Press |location=Prague |oclc=156629447 |url=http://www.nm.cz/download/JML-18-2002-CBE.pdf }}</ref>

<ref name=Paton2003>{{cite journal |last1=Paton |first1=Tara A. |last2=Baker |first2=Allan J. |last3=Groth |first3=J.G. |last4=Barrowclough |first4=G.F. |year=2003 |title=RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds |journal=[[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]] |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=268–278 |doi=10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8 |pmid=13678682}}</ref>

<ref name=Thomas2004>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Gavin H. |last2=Wills |first2=Matthew A. |last3=Székely |first3=Tamás |year=2004 |title=A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny |journal=[[BMC Evolutionary Biology]] |volume=4 |page=28 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 |pmid=15329156 |url=http://www.pubmedcentral.org/picrender.fcgi?artid=515296&blobtype=pdf |pmc=515296}} [http://www.pubmedcentral.org/articlerender.fcgi?artid=515296#supplementary-material-sec Supplementary Material]</ref>

<ref name=VanderWerf2006>{{cite journal |last1=VanderWerf |first1=Eric A. |last2=Wiles |first2=Gary J. |last3=Marshall |first3=Ann P. |last4=Knecht |first4=Melia |year=2006 |title=Observations of migrants and other birds in Palau, April–May 2005, including the first Micronesian record of a Richard's Pipit |journal=Micronesica |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=11–29 |url=http://www.micronesica.org/sites/default/files/2_vanderwerf-palau.pdf}}</ref>

<ref name=White2006>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=Richard W. |last2=Lehnhausen |first2=Bud |last3=Kirwan |first3=Guy M. |year=2006 |title=The first documented record of Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus for Brazil |journal=Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=460–462 |language=English, Portuguese|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237570613_The_first_documented_record_of_Terek_Sandpiper_Xenus_cinereus_for_Brazil}}</ref>

<ref name=Wiles2004>{{cite journal |last1=Wiles |first1=Gary J. |last2=Johnson |first2=Nathan C. |last3=de Cruz |first3=Justine B. |last4=Dutson |first4=Guy |last5=Camacho |first5=Vicente A. |last6=Kepler |first6=Angela Kay |last7=Vice |first7=Daniel S. |last8=Garrett |first8=Kimball L. |last9=Kessler |first9=Curt C. |last10=Pratt |first10=H. Douglas |year=2004 |title=New and Noteworthy Bird Records for Micronesia, 1986–2003 |journal=Micronesica |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=69–96 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228788814_New_and_noteworthy_bird_records_for_Micronesia_1986-2003}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Xenus cinereus}}
{{wikispecies|Xenus cinereus}}
* [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/263.pdf Terek sandpiper species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]
* {{Avibase|name=Xenus cinereus}}
* {{InternetBirdCollection|terek-sandpiper-xenus-cinereus}}
* {{VIREO|Terek+sandpiper}}
* {{IUCN_Map|22693251|Xenus cinereus}}
* {{Xeno-canto species|Xenus|cinereus|Terek sandpiper}}
* {{field guide birds of the world|Xenus cinereus}}
* {{ARKive}}

{{taxonbar}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:sandpiper, Terek}}
[[Category:Scolopacidae|Terek sandpiper]]
[[Category:Sandpipers|Terek sandpiper]]
[[Category:Birds of Russia]]
[[Category:Birds of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Vagrant birds of Africa]]
[[Category:Asian migratory birds]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1775|Terek sandpiper]]

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Couiros22 at 17:20, 2 February 2017