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Temminck's Stint
(Calidris temminckii)
Size: 13-15 cm; wing span 34-37 cm
Weight: 15-35 g
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Physical description |
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 Click here for a physical description
Temminck's Stints are very small waders.
Their plumage
is highly cryptic.
When/if seen in Arabia, they are usually in non-breeding
plumage.
During the non-breeding season they are all grey and white.
The head, neck and chest are almost all-grey, except for a
pale eye-ring and small pale spots on the frons. The lower front
(belly, vent, undertail coverts) is white. The back is grey;
only the wing feathers show a chestnut hue and have thin
central dark stripes.
During the breeding season the head, neck, chest and back all
take on a chestnut-brown base, with striation on the head and
chest and scalloping on the back. The front remains white.
The eyes have dark irises. The dark-grey bill is slightly downcurved
and a bit shorter than the size of the head. The legs and feet are
yellow-olive. In flight the feet protrude slightly beyond the
tail.
Juvenile
Temminck's Stints have a white front, from the throat down to the
undertail coverts. The rest of the plumage is similar to non-breeding
adults.
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Twitcher's tip |
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The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the
Calidris, Tringa, Actitis and
related families or of the Charadrius, Pluvialis and related genera
in the field can be quite tricky. We have therefore made an attempt to
give some advice HERE.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See Temminck's
Stint at Wikipedia  .
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Range, habitat |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
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
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The global distribution of Temminck's Stint is available
HERE
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Temminck's Stint are a strongly migratory species.
They breed in a wide area from subarctic northern Scandinavia
eastward all the way through northern Asia (to about 80 degrees
latitude) to the Bering Sea and the northern base of the
Kamchatka peninsula.
They spend the northern winters in more southern areas. A
small number stay in isolated areas around the Mediterranean,
mostly in Spain, southern Sardinia, Italy and Greece, but
also Tunisia, while most migrate to the Nile river valley
and tropical sub-Saharan Africa and the eastern highlands.
Others spend the winters in the Euphrates/Tigris lowlands,
parts of southern Iran and around the Arabian peninsula.
A large part of the population migrates to southern Asia,
from the border of Pakistan with India eastwards, in a
broad near-coastal strip around the entire subcontinent,
into the Ganges river system in Bangladesh, and on into
much of South-east Asia, including Taiwan and the southern
half of Borneo.
Temminck's Stints are winter visitors to Arabia. They can be found
around most of the peninsula's coastline, but by far the most of
them stay along the coast of Oman, with only a small population
in western Saudi Arabia and a few isolated spots where they can
be found on the Red Sea coast.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
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Photos |
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ADULT |
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A photo of an adult Temminck's Stint is available on the page
for Europe.
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IMMATURE/JUVENILE |
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Near-dorsal view of a Temminck's Stint making the rounds of a pond;
despite the inconspicuous eye-ring, this is probably a first-winter
immature bird
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]
Comparison of Temminck's Stint, left, with a
Green Sandpiper
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, September 2009]
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
