Little Stint
I have always found Little Stints a difficult species to photograph but this year I have managed to capture them on two occasions. I find them difficult because they are tiny (less than half the weight of Dunlin) and are usually too far away for my photographic equipment. But this juvenile fed right in front of the hide at Kilnsea wetlands near Spurn offering great photo-opportunities. I liked this image because its fine bill is actually open, like a pair of tweezers, whereas all of my other photographs show the bill closed. They are also not a common bird in Britain with typically only about 770 records annually. The majority of these are juveniles on autumn passage, stopping off between their tundra breeding grounds and their African wintering grounds.
I have always thought that the "Little" part of Little Stint seemed superfluous as there isn't a Big Stint to distinguish it from. But there used to be, as "Stint" was a once commonly used name for Dunlin, particularly down the east coast of Britain. In fact the name Stint was used in print about 100 years earlier than Dunlin (1452 v 1530). Thomas Bewick was the first person to use the name "Little Stint" in 1797 to distinguish it from "Stint" (ie Dunlin). The name was adopted by subsequent authors but the name Stint was already largely superceded by Dunlin by the time of Bewick.
There are four species of Stint in the world but two (Red-necked and Long-toed) are incredibly rare in Britain, and Temminck's is a former breeding bird that is now only seen on passage and is much rarer than Little Stint. There are usually about 800 Little Stints recorded annually in Britain but only about 100 Temminck's. The three North American "peeps"; Western, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers are stints in all but name. Similarly the rare Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a stint if you ignore its bizarre shaped bill: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/14668414026/in/photolist
Little Stint
I have always found Little Stints a difficult species to photograph but this year I have managed to capture them on two occasions. I find them difficult because they are tiny (less than half the weight of Dunlin) and are usually too far away for my photographic equipment. But this juvenile fed right in front of the hide at Kilnsea wetlands near Spurn offering great photo-opportunities. I liked this image because its fine bill is actually open, like a pair of tweezers, whereas all of my other photographs show the bill closed. They are also not a common bird in Britain with typically only about 770 records annually. The majority of these are juveniles on autumn passage, stopping off between their tundra breeding grounds and their African wintering grounds.
I have always thought that the "Little" part of Little Stint seemed superfluous as there isn't a Big Stint to distinguish it from. But there used to be, as "Stint" was a once commonly used name for Dunlin, particularly down the east coast of Britain. In fact the name Stint was used in print about 100 years earlier than Dunlin (1452 v 1530). Thomas Bewick was the first person to use the name "Little Stint" in 1797 to distinguish it from "Stint" (ie Dunlin). The name was adopted by subsequent authors but the name Stint was already largely superceded by Dunlin by the time of Bewick.
There are four species of Stint in the world but two (Red-necked and Long-toed) are incredibly rare in Britain, and Temminck's is a former breeding bird that is now only seen on passage and is much rarer than Little Stint. There are usually about 800 Little Stints recorded annually in Britain but only about 100 Temminck's. The three North American "peeps"; Western, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers are stints in all but name. Similarly the rare Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a stint if you ignore its bizarre shaped bill: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/14668414026/in/photolist