Little Stint

The little stint is a very small wader with a fine dark bill, dark legs and quick movements. It can be told from other dark-legged stints by its fine bill tip, unwebbed toes and long primary projection. Breeding adults have an orange wash on the breast, a white throat and a strong white V on the back; juveniles have pale crown stripes and a pinkish breast, and winter birds are hard to identify. The call is a sharp stit (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in low-lying grassy tundra in Arctic Europe and Asia, laying three to five eggs in a scrape on bare ground. The species is polygamous, and males and females may each incubate a separate clutch. It feeds on small invertebrates picked from the mud; Arctic chicks depend heavily on midges. In winter it is gregarious, often in large mixed flocks on mudflats and pool edges. In India it is a winter migrant. SoIB 2023 estimates a long-term decline of about 67% and a current fall of about 4% a year, and rates it a High conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).