Small. Short, straight or slightly decurved, gently tapering, black bill, but slightly swollen at the tip. Sexes alike.
Adults: Breeding: Face, throat, upper breast rufous red. Lower breast, reddish with fine dark brown flecks. Lores, eyestripe, blackish. Crown, hind neck, back, scapulars, dark brown mottled with rufous and buff. Eye, dark brown. Eyebrow, inconspicuous. Center of rump, uppertail coverts, dark brown. Sides of rump, belly, undertail coverts, underwing, white. Central tail feather dark brown, outer tail feathers grey. Wing, greyish-brown, greater and primary coverts tipped white forming a white wing bar. Feathers at base of bill white. Bill, black. Legs, black. Non-breeding: Eyebrow, whitish. Upperparts, greyish-brown and rufous is reduced or absent. Underparts, mostly white with greyish streaking at sides of breast.
Immatures: Crown, back, scapulars, dark brown, edged with pale rufous and tipped with white. Neck, greyer. Pale greyish-brown patches at sides of breast and a paler band across the breast.
Other Names (World)
Red-necked Stint, Rufous-necked Stint, Rufous-necked Sandpiper, Redneck Sandpiper, Little Sandpiper, Land Snipe, Little Stint, Eastern Little Stint, Least Sandpiper
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Abundant summer migrant (August - April). Many overwinter.
Habitat
Open marshy swamplands, estuaries, beaches, tidal mudflats, salt- and freshwater wetlands, saltfields, sewerage ponds, usually in large flocks.
Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (mainland) (NB), Christmas Island, Fiji, Guam (NB), Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Mongolia, Myanmar, New Caledonia, New Zealand, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Palau (NB), Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia (Asian), Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB) (P), USA (B), Vietnam.
Vagrant to Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Mozambique, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Peru, Russia (Central Asian), Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vanuatu.
Central and eastern Taymyr; Kharaulakh Mts and area around Lena Delta; R Kolyma to Chukotskiy Peninsula and south to extreme northern Kamchatka; sporadically western and northern Alaska. Winters in south-eastern Asia, from eastern India, Myanmar, southern China and Taiwan through Philippines and Indonesia to Solomon Is, Australia and New Zealand.
Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis) [XC766084]
by Stanislas Wroza from \u00d6giy, Ulziit, Arkhangai, Mongolia (flight call)
Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis) [XC766087]
by Ryan P. O'Donnell from \u00d6giy, Ulziit, Arkhangai, Mongolia (flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds June - July inside Arctic Circle.
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Nest
A hollow in the ground, lined with dwarf willow leaves.
Eggs (Guide)
4; yellow-tinged, with rufous-cinnamon spots, particularly at the larger end; pyriform; about 28 x 20 mm.
Subspecies
May form superspecies with Little Stint (Calidris minuta).
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Little Stint (Calidris minuta)
Similar size. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Has a slightly thinner and more tapering black bill. Often longer black legs. Upperparts generally browner. A higher and rounder crown. More obvious buff-grey zone on the sides of the upperbreast, leaving a white-throat. A white wingbar that does not diffuse onto primaries.
Sanderling (Calidris alba)
Somewhat larger. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Has a wider white wing bar. More prominent black shoulder.
Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
Slightly larger. Non-breeding with non-breeding. Has a longer, downcurved, finer bill, broader at the base. Browner upperparts. Lacks the grey wash at sides of breast. Ear-coverts and edges of mantle are pale chestnut.
Long-toed Stint (Calidris subminuta)
Similar size. Upperparts browner. Has a brown breastband. Legs are greenish-yellow.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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