A wader with an upturned bill and orange legs. It breeds across northern Eurasia and moves to coastal areas of Africa and southern Asia outside the breeding season.
Adults have a grey-brown back, white underparts, orange legs and a bill that curves slightly upward with a black tip.
The Terek Sandpiper searches mudflats with its upturned bill. Australian government material describes its southward arrival at different times: early September in the north and northwest, mid-September on the southwest coast, and November in Victoria.
The species breeds from northeastern Russia across Siberia, then feeds on mudflats and roosts in mangroves while moving through Australia. A 2023 Australian consultation document identifies coastal alteration, development at Yellow Sea stopovers, pollution and human disturbance as conservation concerns.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
An Australian government conservation advice in effect from 2024 identifies development and pollution along the Yellow Sea, hunting, fishing-net deaths and loss of coastal wetlands as threats. It assesses the Terek Sandpiper as eligible for listing as Vulnerable under Australian law and identifies feeding and roosting sites along its migration route as important habitat.