Temminck's stint

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 breeds 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 feeding behaviour, creeping steadily along the edges of pools. They mostly eat insects and other small invertebrates. They are not as gregarious as many 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, Poland 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 File:Calidris temminckii MWNH 0157.JPG|Eggs, collection Museum Wiesbaden ==References==