Little stint

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Little stint
Little Stint (Calidris minuta) 2.jpg
Non-breeding adult in Egypt
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
Species:
C. minuta
Binomial name
Calidris minuta
(Leisler, 1812)
CalidrisMinutaIUCNver2019 2.png
Range of C. minuta
  Breeding
  Passage
  Non-breeding
  Vagrant (seasonality uncertain)
Synonyms

Erolia minuta

Little stint (on the left) and dunlin in the mouth of the Reda river in Puck Bay in Poland. Little stint Calidris minuta and dunlin Calidris alpina.jpg
Little stint (on the left) and dunlin in the mouth of the Reda river in Puck Bay in Poland.

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. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific minuta is Latin for "small. [2]

Contents

Description

Its small size, fine dark bill, dark legs and quicker movements distinguish this species from all waders except the other dark-legged stints. 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 between this species and Temminck's stint has been reported from the Netherlands. [3]

Population dynamics

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.

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.

Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany Calidris minuta MWNH 0155.JPG
Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany

Food

Food is small invertebrates picked off the mud.

Related Research Articles

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Temminck's stint 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 Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad-billed sandpiper</span> Species of bird

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<i>Calidris</i> Genus of birds

Calidris is a genus of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds in the family Scolopacidae. These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. Migratory shorebirds are shown to have decline in reproductive traits because of temporal changes of their breeding seasons(Weiser et al., 2018). They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged and relatively short-billed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pectoral sandpiper</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stilt sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The stilt sandpiper is a small shorebird. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name kalidris or skalidris is a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific himantopus means "strap foot" or "thong foot".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buff-breasted sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The buff-breasted sandpiper is a small shorebird. The species name subruficollis is from Latin subrufus, "reddish" and collis, "-necked/-throated". It is a calidrid sandpiper.

Hybridisation in shorebirds has been proven on only a small number of occasions; however, many individual shorebirds have been recorded by birdwatchers worldwide that do not fit the characters of known species. Many of these have been suspected of being hybrids. In several cases, shorebird hybrids have been described as new species before their hybrid origin was discovered. Compared to other groups of birds, only a few species of shorebirds are known or suspected to hybridise, but nonetheless, these hybrids occur quite frequently in some cases.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Calidris minuta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2012.
  2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 84, 256. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. Jonsson, Lars (1996). "Mystery stint at Groote Keeten: First known hybrid between Little and Temminck's Stint?". Dutch Birding . 18: 24–28.

Further reading

Identification