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Author: Ingo

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Part 1. Small calidris wader

A group of small (around 15cm) and compact shorebirds with short legs, with round head and body, most are rather short-necked. Bill form very variable, but generally fairly short and straight. As a result, they are rather cute looking.

Red-necked Stint (common, often in large groups) Little Stint (accidental, but possibly quite regular along the Indian ocean coastline) Long-toed Stint (fairly common, solitary or small groups) Temminck’s Stint (uncommon, solitary or small groups) Spoon-billed Sandpiper (rare, mainly from Gulf of Thailand where only a handful individuals are recorded each winter, mainly solitary or very small groups, flocks are reported from Bangladesh in winter) Broad-billed Sandpiper (uncommon, usually small groups, often mix with Curlew Sandpiper)

Red-necked Stint

This is the most abundant of the small stints in South-East Asia. The upperparts are grey-brown with thin, but well visible dark shafts to the feathers. The head has a weak, but visible supercilum and a white throat, there’s a small brownish-grey line going from the eye to the base of the bill. The underparts are essentially bright white, only the sides of the breast have some washed, usually slightly spotted greyish-brownish markings. Legs and bill are black. Although variable, the bill is always short and fairly stubby, it is slightly broader at the base than at the tip.

Little Stint

In winter it is often very hard to distinguish from the similar Red-necked Stint.

Long-toed Stint

Structure is similar to Red-necked, but somewhat longer-legged, with longer neck and smaller head. In winter plumage, Long-toed Stint looks considerably darker than all the other Stints because the feathers of the upperparts all have large black centers. The neck is dirty brown, the head pattern shows a well visible supercilum. Underparts are white, but the breast is spotted or even streaked with small dark brown dots. The throat itself is pale. Legs are greenish to yellowsh, the bill is essentially black, but close views will reveal a slightly yellow base to the lower mandible.

Long-toed uses a variety of habitat for feeding, but it seems to prefer a little vegetation near its feeding places – it is less commonly found in open saltpans..

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Best identified by the unique bill-shape. Roosting birds with hidden bill are harder to pick out, but Spoony has also a fairly characteristic face pattern with a dark greyish ‘bandit’s mask’, emphasized by the fact that the hind-neck of Spoon-billed is white.

Temminck’s Stint

Temminck’s Stints look somewhat dull grey overall. Structurally these birds are very similar to Red-necked Stints, but winter-plumaged birds have a uniform dirty greyish upperside with very little pattern, although there are tiny dark shaft streaks to the feathers. Especially the head and neck is uniform greyish and essentially unmarked – there’s a very weak hint of a washed supercilum. However, many bird show quite a prominent thin white or pale buff eye-ring. The underside is two-colored: the breast is uniform greyish, and the belly is pale white.

Temminck’s Stints have light green to orange-yellow legs, and very close views will allow you to see that there’s a hint of yellow at the lower base of the black bill.

Temminck’s Stints are often really solitary, and not in any group of waders, even if such groups are closeby. Nevertheless, they also occasionally mix up with Red-necked or Long-toed Stints.

Broad-billed Sandpipers

Although it is a fairly small calidris sandpiper, it actually resembles the larger calidris in shape. Largest individuals can reac the size of the smallest Curlew Sandpiper which it resembles closely in body structure – but in direct comparison it looks usually a lot smaller than Curlew Sandpiper and closer in size to the small stinits. However, it is slimmer and longer-necked than the other small calidris. Winter plumage of Broad-billed Sandpipers is fairly non-descript, upperparts and underparts ressemble closely those of Red-necked Stint and are of little diagnostic value. However, the head pattern is always more contrasty, Broad-billed has a broad white supercilum and a darkish cap. It then has another fine whitish second supercilum that splits from the thick one near the base of the bill – this is a diagnostic feature of this species, however in very worn birds in late winter this second eye-brow can be so indistinct that it becomes hardly visible. Legs are dark olive to blackish, the bill is essentially black, but close views will reveal that the unde mandible is actually brownish. Bill length is highly variable, but the bill always has a distinctive shape. It is very thick at the base, then quickly narrows to become straight of even width. The tip of the bill droops, making it appear slightly hook-nosed. The bill shape is the most reliable feature to distinguish very worn birds from Curlew Sandpipers.

Broad-billed Sandpipers are never common, but they tend to form small groups that readily associate with other waders, most commonly Curlew Sandpipers. They like to feed in shallow water, they can be readily found in open saltpans or mudflats.