Temminck's Stint with orange legs (1 Viewer)

[melamedon]

I am used to see Temminck's Stints with somewhat dull yellow-greenish legs. Yesterday I saw this individual (marked with a blue arrow) together with a few Little Stints and what surprised me was the bright orange color of the legs. I was wondering how common/unusual this orange leg color is?
Seen at North Israel
Thanks,
Daniel

 

[payaminotom]

I am by no means an expert on this but a quick image search of Temmincks shows a fair few photos of birds with orangey legs amongst the greeny majority. Could be a variation but also could have been wading in clay soils and gotten stained?

 

[Andy Adcock]

That is probably the natural colour, before an individual has had chance to be feeding in mud for a couple of years?

 

[Butty]

It's an adult. It has been feeding in mud for a couple of years.

 

[Dutchbirder64]

I think it is a Temminck's too. Long winged and jizz of the bird is correct. Could it be a hybrid with a Least Sandpiper? I have heard of Least SP with orangy legs.

 

[Butty]

Could it be a hybrid with a Least Sandpiper?

Doubly in the realms of total fantasy. Take the fantastically easier option... It's an adult Temminck's stint with unusual leg colouring.

 

[Butty]

Long winged

Long-tailed (relative to the wings), not long-winged (relative to the tail).

 

[melamedon]

It's an adult. It has been feeding in mud for a couple of years.

To me, the feathers seem scaled as with young birds, but I am not an expert.

 

[Butty]

It's got a row of dark breeding-plumage scapulars.

 

[melamedon]

It's got a row of dark breeding-plumage scapulars.

Got it. Thanks for this clarification.

 

[kuzeycem]

It's a juvenile. ML118197641 Temminck's Stint Macaulay Library

 

[Butty]

It's a juvenile.

Why?

 

[melamedon]

It's a juvenile. ML118197641 Temminck's Stint Macaulay Library

Thank you. Do you think the leg color is age related?

 

[lou salomon]

Why?

you'll never find those scalloped upperparts in an adult Temminck's.

 

[Butty]

👍🏻
Theres a good illustration of this juvenile plumage (subterminally-black-fringed scapulars) by the God Lars in...

https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V77/V77_N07/V77_N07_P293_315_A085.pdf

- much more like the OP's photo than the pic in the Svensson field guide.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Thank you. Do you think the leg color is age related?

I think it is, they just haven't had time to get really dirty?

 

[Butty]

they just haven't had time to get really dirty?

Oh, didn't realise you were serious about this... I can't think of any evidence that it's true. Do you have in mind any other species in which juveniles' bare parts are brighter than adults'? The reverse is normally the case.

 

[melamedon]

Oh, didn't realise you were serious about this... I can't think of any evidence that it's true. Do you have in mind any other species in which juveniles' bare parts are brighter than adults'? The reverse is normally the case.

Temminck's Stint - Calidris temminckii - Media Search - Macaulay Library and eBird

Explore millions of photos, audio recordings, and videos of birds and other animals; powered by Macaulay Library and eBird. The Macaulay Library collects, archives, and distributes wildlife media for research, education, and conservation.

search.macaulaylibrary.org

There are some photos of orange-legged individuals in tbe above link. But the field guides point only to green-yellow or green-gray colors. Anyway, thanks for this interesting discussion.

 

[Dutchbirder64]

Doubly in the realms of total fantasy. Take the fantastically easier option... It's an adult Temminck's stint with unusual leg colouring.

Maybe so, but there are more hybrids than we think. Though still rare. F.e. An unusual stint in the Netherlands was initially thought to be that country's first record of the least sandpiper, but showed anomalous features for that species, and was a hybrid between Little stint (Calidris minuta) and Temminck's stint (Calidris temminckii).[8]

Hybrids between dunlin (Calidris alpina) and the white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis) have been occasionally seen in northeastern North America.[9][10] In Europe an apparent hybrid between the dunlin and the purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) has turned up.[11]

Hybridisation has been reported between the buff-breasted sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis) and the white-rumped sandpiper (or possibly Baird's sandpiper, Calidris bairdii) on multiple occasions in North America

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Yes, but hybrids are still very rare where species ranges overlap, as with all the cases mentioned above. Imagine how unlikely it would be where species ranges don’t overlap…