ID please-Is it a Little Stint or anything else? (1 Viewer)

[pandoo]

Photo taken: September 24th
In South Korea

Could this be a little sandpiper? Its bill and legs appear longer than those of red-necked sandpiper, and the wing coverts and tertial edges are reddish brown.

 

[THE_FERN]

Yes I think little stint. See for example the white "tram lines" on its back

 

[Butty]

white "tram lines" on its back

...which red-necked stint may also have in autumn - but I'd guess the bill may be too long for that species.

 

[wheatearlp]

Split supercilium also a pointer to Little Stint.

 

[THE_FERN]

...which red-necked stint may also have in autumn - but I'd guess the bill may be too long for that species.

Colour surely too rich for that species

 

[pandoo]

I sincerely thank you all❤️

 

[Brian J Small]

Nothing here that rules out Red-necked Stint, which can be richly coloured and have a split supercilium. Only 'odd' features are the slightly darker centres to coverts, which tend to be plainer and greyer with just black shaft, but even these here are within RnS variation. More side-on photos would be helpful

ML609407983 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML609407983; © Ying ZHOU; Funabashi, Chiba, Japan

macaulaylibrary.org

ML618362731 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML618362731; © Andy Lee; Chungcheongnamdo, South Korea

macaulaylibrary.org

ML610919887 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML610919887; © Karyne Wee; Fukaura, Aomori, Japan

macaulaylibrary.org

 

[johnallcock]

Structurally it looks rather more like a Red-necked to me - the bill doesn't seem particularly long, and is fairly uniform along the length with a blunt tip, rather than tapering to a thin point as I expect on Little. The legs don't seem very long either, but this is a bit hard to judge as the closer leg is raised on tiptoe, making it look longer.
I don't really see enough of either species (and especially Little) in juvenile plumage to comment on the fine details, but I agree with Brian that Red-necked certainly can look as richly-coloured as this.

 

[Tib78]

It’s often surprisingly difficult to assess the structure of a bird on a close-up, frame-filling shot as this one. And I do think that it’s not easy to assess the bird’s structure in this instance - including the bill shape because of the dark background- but it doesn’t look wrong for Little stint to me. Although I agree that more images would be welcome in this instance.

Plumage-wise I think this bird fits quite well with what would be expected of many late September 1cy LS, when wear start to affect the brightness of the feather fringes: many juv LS start to look duller, less bright rufous at this time of the year than earlier in the season.

I can see a few plumage features that are at odds with juv RNS. Some have already been mentioned such as the dark greater coverts that consequently lack the contrasting dark shaft streak - I haven’t found any juv RNS with the greater coverts that dark but I’ll take they exist as per Brian’s remark above.

But here are a couple more « oddities », were the bird a RNS:

• the white tramline on the back may indeed be present in RNS, but can they be so long, thick and obvious as here ? Again I haven’t located any individual with comparably long white tramlines
• Some scapulars show a black center that is shaped like the central petal of a fleur-de-lis - see attached pic to highlight what I mean- with a very long white fringe along the feathers edge (see the edited pic with arrows pointing at those scapulars).

I failed to find any juv RNS with this peculiar scapular pattern even among bright individuals while this is common in juv LS: ML609389734 - Little Stint - Macaulay Library

Here are a couple more of these « bright » RNS:
ML609854438 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library
Little Stint(Calidris minuta) Bird Mongolia (labelled as a Little stint but clearly a RNS)
Note how the white fringes to the scaps are mainly confined to the feathers tip and thus appear somewhat neater (and thicker) compared to the OP bird. The late Martin Gardner once commented that these white fringes/tips found in RNS look like nails with « French manucure ». Something that stuck in my mind. And the dark centers appear somewhat blunt, less lanceolated and more square than in LS.

Again I would like to see more images but I think the sum of evidence visible here are in favour of Little stint.

 

[pandoo]

It’s often surprisingly difficult to assess the structure of a bird on a close-up, frame-filling shot as this one. And I do think that it’s not easy to assess the bird’s structure in this instance - including the bill shape because of the dark background- but it doesn’t look wrong for Little stint to me. Although I agree that more images would be welcome in this instance.

Plumage-wise I think this bird fits quite well with what would be expected of many late September 1cy LS, when wear start to affect the brightness of the feather fringes: many juv LS start to look duller, less bright rufous at this time of the year than earlier in the season.

I can see a few plumage features that are at odds with juv RNS. Some have already been mentioned such as the dark greater coverts that consequently lack the contrasting dark shaft streak - I haven’t found any juv RNS with the greater coverts that dark but I’ll take they exist as per Brian’s remark above.

But here are a couple more « oddities », were the bird a RNS:

• the white tramline on the back may indeed be present in RNS, but can they be so long, thick and obvious as here ? Again I haven’t located any individual with comparably long white tramlines
• Some scapulars show a black center that is shaped like the central petal of a fleur-de-lis - see attached pic to highlight what I mean- with a very long white fringe along the feathers edge (see the edited pic with arrows pointing at those scapulars).

I failed to find any juv RNS with this peculiar scapular pattern even among bright individuals while this is common in juv LS: ML609389734 - Little Stint - Macaulay Library

Here are a couple more of these « bright » RNS:
ML609854438 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library
Little Stint(Calidris minuta) Bird Mongolia (labelled as a Little stint but clearly a RNS)
Note how the white fringes to the scaps are mainly confined to the feathers tip and thus appear somewhat neater (and thicker) compared to the OP bird. The late Martin Gardner once commented that these white fringes/tips found in RNS look like nails with « French manucure ». Something that stuck in my mind. And the dark centers appear somewhat blunt, less lanceolated and more square than in LS.

Again I would like to see more images but I think the sum of evidence visible here are in favour of Little stint.

Structurally it looks rather more like a Red-necked to me - the bill doesn't seem particularly long, and is fairly uniform along the length with a blunt tip, rather than tapering to a thin point as I expect on Little. The legs don't seem very long either, but this is a bit hard to judge as the closer leg is raised on tiptoe, making it look longer.
I don't really see enough of either species (and especially Little) in juvenile plumage to comment on the fine details, but I agree with Brian that Red-necked certainly can look as richly-coloured as this.

Nothing here that rules out Red-necked Stint, which can be richly coloured and have a split supercilium. Only 'odd' features are the slightly darker centres to coverts, which tend to be plainer and greyer with just black shaft, but even these here are within RnS variation. More side-on photos would be helpful

ML609407983 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML609407983; © Ying ZHOU; Funabashi, Chiba, Japan

macaulaylibrary.org

ML618362731 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML618362731; © Andy Lee; Chungcheongnamdo, South Korea

macaulaylibrary.org

ML610919887 - Red-necked Stint - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML610919887; © Karyne Wee; Fukaura, Aomori, Japan

macaulaylibrary.org

Thank you all so much for your kind words!

I'm uploading other photos as well. Please check them out.

 

[Tib78]

Thank you all so much for your kind words!

I'm uploading other photos as well. Please check them out.

Well for future reference please note that if you happen to have several pictures of a certain bird available, it’s always better to upload more than one. That usually makes the ID process of difficult birds considerably simpler.

I guess there won’t be any more disagreement or hesitation now with the new set of pics: it’s a Little stint.

 

[pandoo]

Well for future reference please note that if you happen to have several pictures of a certain bird available, it’s always better to upload more than one. That usually makes the ID process of difficult birds considerably simpler.

I guess there won’t be any more disagreement or hesitation now with the new set of pics: it’s a Little stint.

I'm so grateful for all the help I've received. I'm so sorry for confusing you by only uploading one photo. I'll try to upload more in the future!
Thank you again❤️