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Little Stints are very small waders. Their plumage is cryptic. The two sexes look alike, although males, on average, become more rufous during the breeding season than females. In breeding plumage the head, neck and upperparts can have a strong chestnut hue, although some individuals only show a buff tinge instead. The frons, supercilia and chin are white, while the sides of the head and the neck show some faint streaking. The rest of the front is white. The crown is prominently streaked dark-grey. The back is chestnut and dark-grey, while the wing coverts have dark centres, with parts of the feathers having broad chestnut edges, others having white edges. The primaries are black. In eclipse the head and neck are grey with fine darker streaking. On the head only the frons, lores, supercilia and chin are white. Under the streaked grey neck and chest, the rest of the front is white. The back and upperwings are grey, with darker feather shafts and white edge-lining on the wing coverts. All buff to chestnut hues disappear. The irises are dark. The bill, which is shorter than the size of the head, is minimally down-curved and black. The legs and feet are also black. Juveniles are more similar to adults in breeding plumage than eclipse, with strong chestnut hues and a prominent pattern on the back and wing coverts, in which white edge lining on the coverts creates bold white stripes along the back.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Little Stint is available HERE .

Little Stints are a strongly migratory Eurasian species. Their breeding grounds are located in the Arctic regions of far-northern Scandinavia, eastward via the Kola peninsula to northern Siberia. Apart from sub-Saharan Africa (with the exception of the inland areas of the Kongo Basin) they overwinter in primarily (near-)coastal areas from the Atlantic island groups (Azores, Cape Verdian islands, Canarian islands) via southern Europe and northern Africa eastward into Asia Minor, parts of the Middle East, the river Nile valley and the Euphrates/Tigris plains and on, along the coastal fringe of Arabia and south-western Asia to the Indian subcontinent, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and parts of Thailand. Only during migration are they found in the Atlas mountain range, in North-west Africa. Some vagrants have been reported from different locations around the Australian coastal fringe.

In Europe Little Stints are summer breeding migrants to the far-northern part of Scandinavia, parts of the Kola peninsula and some locations along the north-western coastal fringe of Russia. They overwinter in areas along the Atlantic coastline southward of Normandy, France, and along the Mediterranean coastal fringe as far eastward as the Bosporus, including the Balearic islands, the southern part of Sardinia and parts of Sicily. They also stay in some suitable wetlands in inland Iberia.

During the breeding season Little Stints are usually found in Arctic tundra, while outside the breeding season they are a coastal species found often in estuaries.

J. Pires reports first finding Little Stints in Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal, in October 2015. Since then the species is found semi-regularly, mostly outside the breeding season, in southern and central Portugal. Others were found on Murraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, in January/February 2023.

In May 2023, H. Dahlem-Senger found a Little Stint at Salines des Trenc, Mallorca, Spain.