Little stint Calidris minuta
Photographed at Embankment Road, Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Little stints are very rare vagrants to New Zealand, with three accepted records, all from Lake Ellesmere. Each bird was associated with a flock of red-necked stints, which enabled comparisons with that species to be made. This was essential for the records to be accepted, as the two species are very similar, and are regarded as one of the most difficult small sandpiper species pairs to separate.
Little stint Calidris minuta
Photographed at Embankment Road, Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Little stints are very rare vagrants to New Zealand, with three accepted records, all from Lake Ellesmere. Each bird was associated with a flock of red-necked stints, which enabled comparisons with that species to be made. This was essential for the records to be accepted, as the two species are very similar, and are regarded as one of the most difficult small sandpiper species pairs to separate.