Little Stint
Calidris minuta
IUCN status: Least concern
Identification
A very small shorebird closely resembling Red-necked Stint. Slightly smaller and has proportionately longer legs, shorter wings and finer bill. (Very subtle) Non breeding plumages are identical to Red-necked Stint. Breeding: broader more orange tinged rufous fringes to feathers of upperparts. Throat white (mostly red in Red-necked Stint).
Confusing Species
Ringed Plover
Semi-palmated Plover
Distribution
Distribution
No ordinary distribution in Australia.
Migratory habits
Migrates south to Africa, India and Arabian Peninsula.
Breeding
Breeds in Siberia.
Sightings of Little Stint in Australia
| Location | State | Sighting period |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands | IOT | 22/07/2014 |
| Tuross Estuary | NSW | 5/03/2012 |
| Dry Creek Saltfields | SA | 21/10/2010 |
| Dry Creek Saltfields | SA | 3/10/2008 |
| Dry Creek Saltfields | SA | 28/12/2008 |
| Price Saltfields | SA | 30/03/2006 |
| Woorinen | VIC | 2/11/2009 |
| Broome | WA | 17/12/2009 |
| Werribee Treatment Plant | VIC | 13/07/2008 |
References
- Geering, Andrew, Lindsay Agnew, and Sandra Harding, eds. Shorebirds of Australia. Csiro Publishing, 2007.
- eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org (Accessed: Date 12/4/2026)
- Rogers A, Fuller RA & Amano T (2023) Australia’s migratory shorebirds: Trends and prospects. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. University of Queensland, Brisbane.
- Driessen, J., Kidd, L. R., Weller, D. R., Purnell, C., Maguire, G., Jaensch, R., and LeClair, S. M. (2025). Australian National Directory of Important Migratory Shorebird Habitat. Report for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.
- https://sproggies63.github.io/birding_apps/
- van Gils, J., P. Wiersma, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Little Stint (Calidris minuta), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.litsti.01