The Little Stint is a tiny wader that is smaller than a House Sparrow.
The bird breeds in the Arctic where it nests on the ground in late June. The female can lay one clutch of eggs and leave their care to the male while she will incubate a second clutch. The young hatch quite quickly, after only 20 days and the young can fly at 17 days old.
It is a long distance migrant, leaving the Arctic in August. It moves on a broad front across land as far as possible and starts to moult on arrival at the Mediterranean. It will then fly to Africa where it overwinters. The bird is commonly seen in Britain, especially the juveniles (one of which is shown in the above photo`s) during the Autumn migration where it visits the edge of lakes and reservoirs and sheltered estuaries and brackish pools near the coast. It feeds by picking food from the surface or from water, rarely probing in mud. Its food consists of insects, small worms, tiny shellfish, shrimps and some plant material.
A lovely capture, a beautiful bird to see.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing little wader John with nice colouring. I really must get to grips with learning one wader from another.{:)
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThankyou, a good bird to see, if a little hard to see at times because of the size of it!
J
Hi Roy,
ReplyDeleteA very active little wader that is easy to identify when it is hanging around with a Dunlin. The Dunlin seems huge when stood next to a Stint! ;)
J
These are particularly nice photos--I especially like the middle one, with the beaky reflection seeming to look back at it.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased you mentioned its size John as photographs can be deceptive. It's a lovely little bird.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan,
ReplyDeleteThankyou very much! Yes, my favourite is the middle one, it looks to me like he is looking at his reflection thinking its another bird!
J
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteYes, pictures can be deceptive. This wader is a tiny little thing, but the photo`s don`t really show that, do they!?
J