Adults: Breeding: Face, throat, upper breast pale rufous or rufous brown with fine brown streaking. Throat, whitish. 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: Tends to be browner above, with more prominent brown centers to feathers. Breast may have a band of fine streaks.
Immatures: Crown is more rufous and contrasts more with white eyebrow. Scapulars have buff or white edges forming whitish lines down the back. Tertials have more extensive rufous edges.
Other Names (World)
Little Stint, Lesser Stint, Brown Sandpiper, Sparrow-shorebird
Family
Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)
Afghanistan (P), Albania (NB) (P), Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Austria (P), Azerbaijan (NB), Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium (NB), Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria (NB), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China (mainland), Comoros, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (P), Cyprus (NB), Czech Republic, Denmark (P), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland (B) (P), France (NB) (P), Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany (P), Ghana, Greece (NB) (P), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Hungary, India, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (P), Iraq (NB) (P), Ireland (NB), Israel, Italy (NB) (P), Japan, Jordan (NB) (P), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Luxembourg, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (NB), Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Moldova [Republic of] (P), Mongolia, Montenegro (NB), Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles (NB), Niger, Nigeria, Norway (B) (P), Oman (NB), Pakistan, Poland (P), Portugal (NB), Qatar, Romania (P), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B) (P), Russia (European) (B) (P), Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia (NB), Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Slovenia (NB) (P), Somalia, South Africa, Spain (NB) (P), Sri Lanka (NB), Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden (B) (P), Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Tunisia (NB), Turkey (NB) (P), Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine (P), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (NB) (P), Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Antigua And Barbuda, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong (China), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Thailand, USA (NB), Vietnam.
Population
Estimated population is 1,400,000 - 1,500,000 (2010).
Status LC
Habitat destruction and degradation, and susceptibility to avian influenza and botulism are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Habits
Singly, readily associating with other waders.
Food
Insects on Tundra, tiny invertebrates on seashores.
Voice
A repeated 'chit' or 'tit'. A quiet, high-pitched 'tsee-tee'. A 'svee svee svee' during display in the breeding season.
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