Long-toed Stint

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Long-toed Stint
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
Species: C. subminuta
Binomial name
Calidris subminuta
Middendorff, 1853
Synonyms

Erolia subminuta

The Long-toed Stint, Calidris or Erolia subminuta, is a small wader bird. It breeds across northern Asia and is strongly migratory, wintering in south and south east Asia and Australasia. It occurs in western Europe only as a very rare vagrant.

Little is known of the breeding habits of this species, although it nests on the ground, and the male has a display flight.

This bird has yellowish legs and a short thin dark bill. Breeding adults are a rich brown with darker feather centres above and white underneath. They have a light line above the eye and a brown crown. In winter, Long-toed Stints are grey above. The juveniles are brightly patterned above with rufous colouration and white mantle stripes.

This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny waders which are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints". In particular, Long-toed Stint is very similar to its North American counterpart, the Least Sandpiper. It differs from that species in its more slender, longer-necked appearance, longer toes, somewhat brighter colours, and weaker wingbar.

These birds forage on mudflats, picking up food by sight, sometimes by probing. They mainly eat small crustaceans, insects and snails.

Contents

[edit] References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2004). Calidris subminuta. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 9 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
  • Hayman, Peter; Marchant, John & Prater, Tony (1986): Shorebirds: an identification guide to the waders of the world. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. ISBN 0-395-60237-8

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Identification

  • Jonsson, Lars & Peter J. Grant (1984) Identification of stints and peeps British Birds 77(7):293-315
  • Alström, Per & Urban Olsson (1989) The identification of juvenile Red-necked and Long-toed Stints British Birds 82(8):360-372
  • Round, Philip D. (1996) Long-toed Stint in Cornwall: the first record for the Western Palearctic British Birds 89(1):12-24

[edit] External links