Well Bob, from what I hear
Little Stints weigh less [in the hand]
The juvenile and breeding plumages can be diagnostic.
There may well be dozens in Little Stints rocking up every year in
non-breeding plumage that get labelled as RNS.
Regards, Laurie.
On Friday, December 8, 2006, at 04:18 PM, Robert Inglis wrote:
OK,
I'm going to make a total goose of myself twice by asking two
questions:
In a posting dated "Wed, 6 Dec 2006 15:13:07 -0800 (PST)" Tun Pin Ong
provided some links to his very good images.
My question 1: Which bird in each of the photos containing more than
one bird are we supposed to be looking at?
In a posting dated "Thu, 7 Dec 2006 11:27:56 +1100" Jeff Davies said:
"G'day Tun Pin,
Your stint does indeed look like a good candidate for little
Stint,.......... ."
Cheers Jeff Davies."
My question 2: Why?
Obviously I haven't yet seen a Little Stint, at least, to the best of
my knowledge.
But I have seen more than a few Red-necked Stints.
Recently I took well over 100 photos of the 'local' Stints and, on
reviewing the images, I noticed a visible variation in plumage, the
bill shape and size, and the apparent leg length amongst the birds.
I assumed this was due to: viewing angle, variations in the light, age
differences in the birds, differences in the rate of change from
"breeding" to "non-breeding" plumages.
Perhaps I am making unfounded assumptions.
Interestingly, HANZAB states (under Red-necked Stint) that the call is
"easy and safe way to distinguish Little from Red-necked".
However, "Shorebirds" (Hayman, Marchant, Prater 1986) says (also under
Red-necked Stint): "Calls are very similar to those of Little Stint
and generally of little value in separating these two species".
I am curious as to how the experts identify Little Stint in the field.
Cheers
Bob Inglis
Sandstone Point
Qld.
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