Little stint Calidris minuta and dunlin Calidris alpina

The little stint (''Calidris minuta'' or ''Erolia minuta'') is a very small

wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

. It breeds in

arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

Europe and Asia, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to Africa and south Asia. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America and to Australia. The genus name is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''minuta'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "small.

Description

Its small size, fine dark bill, dark legs and quicker movements distinguish this species from all waders except the other dark-legged

stint A stint is one of several very small waders in the paraphyletic ''"Calidris"'' assemblage – often separated in ''Erolia'' – which in North America are known as peeps. They are Scolopacidae, scolopacid waders much similar in ecomor ...

s. It can be distinguished from these in all plumages by its combination of a fine bill tip, unwebbed toes and long primary projection. The call is a sharp "stit". The breeding adult has an orange wash to the breast, a white throat and a strong white V on its back. In winter plumage identification is difficult. Juveniles have pale crown stripes and a pinkish breast. An apparent

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

between this species and

Temminck's stint Temminck's stint (''Calidris temminckii'') is a small wader. This bird's common name and Latin binomial commemorate the Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by ...

has been reported from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Population dynamics

The numbers of this species (and of

curlew sandpiper The curlew sandpiper (''Calidris ferruginea'') is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly bird migration, migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australia and New Zeal ...

) depend on the population of

lemming A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also inclu ...

s. In poor lemming years, predatory species such as

skua The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the Arctic skua, the long-tailed skua, and the pomarine skua, are called ...

s and

snowy owl The snowy owl (''Bubo scandiacus''), also known as the polar owl, the white owl and the Arctic owl, is a large, white owl of the true owl family. Snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mo ...

s take Arctic-breeding waders instead. It is gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks with other ''Calidris'' waders, particularly

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader in the genus '' Calidris''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown", with the suffix ''-ling'', meaning a person or ...

, on coastal mudflats or the edges of inland pools. The little stint is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (

AEWA The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convent ...

) applies.

Nesting

This bird nests on a scrape in bare ground, laying 3–5 eggs. It is polygamous, and males and females may incubate separate clutches. Calidris minuta MWNH 0155

Food

Food is small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s picked off the mud.

Gallery

File:Liitle Stint.jpg, Little stint, non breeding in February,

Vasai Vasai (Konkani and Marathi pronunciation: �əsəi British English: Bassein; formerly and alternatively Marathi; ''Bajipur'') is a historical place and city located in Palghar district; it was partitioned out of the Thane district in 2014. It ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. File:Terek Sandpiper & Little Stint (Calidris minuta) W3 IMG 6891.jpg, Mixed

flock Flock, flocks or flocking may refer to: * Flock (birds), a gathering of individual birds to forage or travel collectively Arts and entertainment Music * ''Flock'' (Bell X1 album), 2005 * ''Flock'' (Jane Weaver album), 2021 * The Flock (band), ...

with the larger

Terek sandpiper The Terek sandpiper (''Xenus cinereus'') is a small migratory Palearctic wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly foun ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, India. File:Little Stint AMSM6809 LSTI.jpg, Little Stint at

Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary located in Jamnagar district of Gujarat, India. About 300 species of migratory birds have been recorded here. In 2022, on World Wetlands Day (2 February) it was declared as a List of Ramsar sites in I ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

File:Little-Stint1.jpg, At Manohara River

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

References

External links

Little stint species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

a
Oiseaux.net

Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.2 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
* * * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q27232 Calidris Erolia Shorebirds Birds of the Arctic Birds of Russia Wintering birds of Africa Birds described in 1812 Taxa named by Johann Philipp Achilles Leisler