Shorebird: Red-necked Stint

Try finding these tiny birds among the flock of shorebirds that are wintering on our island can be quite a challenge. Then again that is the fun of learning to identify waders during the winter migratory season. 

Red-necked Stints are among the smallest of waders. They measure about 17 cm in length, and can be hard to pick out in the distance.

This small group was photographed at Sungei Buloh at the start of 2011 winter migratory season.

The birds that we see now are all wearing their none breeding plumage. They breed in summer along the Arctic coast and during winter they will fly south and spread from the Indian coastline through Southeast Asia right down to New Zealand.

A couple of us were lucky enough to find this lone individual on a mudflat at low tide. It was very gregarious and had no fear of us as we sat on the mudflat photographing waders. This little bird literally walked right up to us and foraged for marine worms giving us the opportunity to shoot a minimum distance.