The family Scolopacidae is composed of a large variety of shorebirds, including Wandering Tattlers, snipe, sandpipers, yellowlegs and Surfbirds. Many members of this diverse family display three or more seasonal plumages. It is believed that hunters named Wandering Tattlers for their loud and scolding calls. Their alarm calls were once believed to warn other birds of approaching danger. In actuality, these alarm calls are given in defense of the nest. In Greek, the generic name, Heteroscelus, means "different leg." It refers to the small scaling on their feet, which differentiates these tattlers from other sandpipers. Their specific name, incanus, is Latin for "gray" and refers to their drab, grayish plumage.

Descriptions
Wandering Tattlers are primarily marine birds, inhabiting rocky islands and shorelines along the Pacific coast. During the breeding season, however, they move inland and nest along the rocky, freshwater streambeds in the mountains of interior Alaska. Overall, Wandering Tattlers are stocky, with short, yellow legs. Their slate-gray plumage blends well with the silty mud of streams and shores. When threatened, they instinctively freeze and are instantly camouflaged from danger. Although their plumage is plain, diagnostic traits include their white eyerings and long, gray bill, tipped in black. Male and female plumages are resemble one another but adult and juvenile plumages differ. Underneath, breeding adults are heavily barred while juveniles display solid-gray breasts and solid-white bellies. On the wing, their flight is low and weaving. As wading birds, these medium-sized [28cm] tattlers are poorly adapted for perching and have difficulty maintaining their balance in trees. They may be seen precariously wobbling atop willows along the riverbanks! When wading, these active birds move with abrupt, jerking movements [bobbing] along the shore. Although their feet are not webbed, they are decent swimmers and can swim as chicks.

Vocalizations
Although very quiet and secretive during incubation, Wandering Tattlers produce various vocalizations during the breeding season. In Alaska, they are especially loud during Mid to Late June. When alarmed, these birds vigorously scold [or tattle] intruders from willow trees. Their flight call is a high, clear, monotone "piping," like a rapid, unbroken trill,"lidididididi…" The flight song is a ringing and whistled "deedle-deedle-deedle-do," used to call in their chicks.

Nests
Wandering Tattlers nest along mountain streams and gravel bars with cantaloupe-sized rocks. The nest is a simple ground-depression (scrape) wallowed out between small stones. Scantily lined with willow rootlets, dry leaves and twigs, the nest cradles the four 43mm eggs of the clutch. The color of their greenish eggs, marked or encircled (wreathed) in dark browns, closely matches that of the surroundings. Although the female alone incubates the clutch for 23-25 days, both parents actively defend the nest with distraction displays. The male stands vigil, warns the female of approaching threats and flies towards intruders with loud, alarm calls. While the female is not easily flushed from the nest, she will also fly towards threats calling loudly. After fledging, young birds are reared by both parents.

Diet
Wandering Tattlers feed on aquatic organisms including insects, snails, crabs and marine worms. They forage along the water's edge in swift current, habitually bobbing and teetering. When foraging, they rapidly and vertically probe into the mud with their long, slender bills and may entirely immerse their heads and necks. Pliable and equipped with sensitive tips, their bills enable them to forage by feeling around rocks and pebbles underwater.

Distribution
In winter, Wandering Tattlers winter along the rocky Pacific coastline from California to Peru. During the breeding season, they occur throughout most of Alaska and Yukon Territories, Canada. Within the Preserve, only one Wandering Tattler was detected during the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Bird Inventory and it was in the Upper Charley Valleys ecological unit . This may not accurately reflect the density of these tattlers in the Preserve. Many of the survey routes were not along streams or watercourses. In addition, seasonal timing for the inventory may not have adequately captured alpine-loving shorebirds which tend to display, vocalize, and breed earlier in the spring.