DSC7502 Little Stint..
Little Stint - Calidris minuta
The little stint (Calidris minuta) (or Erolia minuta), is a very small wader. It breeds in arctic 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.
Autumn birds have two pale stripes or 'braces' down the back. It does not breed in the UK, but is a passage migrant, with most birds being juveniles seen in autumn. It is much scarcer in spring, when small numbers of adults are seen, and a very few birds spend the winter here, most migrating to Africa. Often seen with feeding dunlin.
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.
The numbers of this species (and of curlew sandpiper) depend on the population of lemmings. In poor lemming years, predatory species such as skuas and snowy owls take Arctic-breeding waders instead.
It is gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks with other Calidris waders, particularly dunlin, 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) applies.
Population:
UK wintering:
14 birds Approx?
UK passage:
770
DSC7502 Little Stint..
Little Stint - Calidris minuta
The little stint (Calidris minuta) (or Erolia minuta), is a very small wader. It breeds in arctic 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.
Autumn birds have two pale stripes or 'braces' down the back. It does not breed in the UK, but is a passage migrant, with most birds being juveniles seen in autumn. It is much scarcer in spring, when small numbers of adults are seen, and a very few birds spend the winter here, most migrating to Africa. Often seen with feeding dunlin.
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.
The numbers of this species (and of curlew sandpiper) depend on the population of lemmings. In poor lemming years, predatory species such as skuas and snowy owls take Arctic-breeding waders instead.
It is gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks with other Calidris waders, particularly dunlin, 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) applies.
Population:
UK wintering:
14 birds Approx?
UK passage:
770