G'day Rob,
Did you manage to see the bird in flight? According to Pizzey and
Knight, the white wing bar doesn't diffuse onto the primaries in the
case of Little Stints. Looking at my photographs, the diffusion of the
white wingbar onto the primaries is quite prominent in Red Necked
Stints - so if you suspect a Little Stint, it might help if you get a
photograph or a good view when it flies off.
Regards, Laurie.
On Tuesday, February 7, 2006, at 03:32 PM, Rob Quinan wrote:
Hi All.
A large group (>30) met the ranger at Pt. Cook last Saturday and we
went out to the Cheetham Wetlands to search for the Little Stint, with
no luck. Most of us moved onto the shore of the bay as the falling
tide was exposing the mudflats, and we spent some time scanning
thousands of waders.
Eventually, a few managed to find a suspect Stint, not coloured as we
were expecting, and enough features were seen to suggest the bird was
the Little Stint. It had lost vitrually all colour with only some
rufous on a few of the tertials. However, the bird can still be
differentiated from the Red-necked Stints by its darker, brownish
back, which stands out when it's amongst the RNSs. There is also a
pale line along the right side of the mantle which was clearly > visible.
With no expert with the few of us who saw this bird last Sat., we were
reluctant to claim it, but it has since been confirmed as the Little
Stint. So, if you were one of the lucky few, you can tick it.
Rob Quinan
Central Coast, NSW.
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