Temminck's Stint

Temminck's stint (''Calidris temminckii'') is a small wader. This bird's common name and Latin binomial commemorate the Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds.

Temminck's stint is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (AEWA) applies.

Description

These birds are very small waders, at length. They are similar in size to the little stint (''Calidris minuta'') but shorter legged and longer winged. The legs are yellow and the outer tail feathers white, in contrast to little stint's dark legs and grey outer tail feathers.

This is a rather drab wader, with mainly plain brown upperparts and head, and underparts white apart from a darker breast. The breeding adult has some brighter rufous mantle feathers to relieve the generally undistinguished appearance. In winter plumage, the general appearance recalls a tiny version of common sandpiper.

The call is a loud trill.

Breeding

This stint's breeding habitat is bogs and marshes in the taiga of Arctic northern Europe and Asia. It will breed in southern Scandinavia and occasionally Scotland. It has a distinctive hovering display flight. It nests in a scrape on the ground, laying 3–4 eggs. Temminck's stint is strongly migratory, wintering at freshwater sites in tropical Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia.

Temminck's stints have an intriguing breeding and parental care system in which males and female parents incubate separate clutches, typically in different locations. Males establish small territories and mate with a female who lays a first clutch of eggs. She then moves to a second territory and mate, and lays a second clutch that she incubates herself. Concurrently, her first male may mate with an incoming second female, who lays her second clutch on his territory. The male thereafter incubates his first mate's first clutch alone.

An apparent hybrid between this species and the little stint has been reported from the Netherlands.

Feeding

These birds forage in soft mud with some vegetation, mainly picking up food by sight. They have a distinctive mouse-like feeding behaviour, creeping steadily along the edges of pools. They mostly eat insects and other small invertebrates. They are not as gregarious as other ''Calidris'' waders, and rarely form large flocks.

Gallery

File:Temminck's Stint (Non- breeding plumage) I IMG 1444.jpg, In non-breeding plumage at Purbasthali in Bardhaman District of West Bengal, India.
File:Temminck's-Stint.jpg, In Manohara River, Kathmandu. Nepal.
File:Timminck's Stint (Breeding & Non-breeding plumage) at Hodal I IMG 9641.jpg, In breeding & non-breeding plumage near Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.
File:Temminck's Stint (Calidris temminckii) (Breeding plumage) at Bharatpur I IMG 5585.jpg, Breeding plumage at Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan, India.
File:Calidris_temminckii_1_(Marek_Szczepanek).jpg , Temminck's Stint
File:Temminck's Stint from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg, ID composite
File:Temminck's Stint AMSM6404 TSTI.jpg, At Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
File:Temminck's Stint AMSM6802-TSTI.jpg, At Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, Gujarat, India

References

Further reading

Identification

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External links

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{{Taxonbar, from=Q58921

Temminck's stint
Temminck's stint
Birds of Russia
Birds of Scandinavia
Wintering birds of Africa
Wintering birds of Indomalaya
Temminck's stint
Temminck's stint