Calidris temminckii (Temminck's Stint)

Scientific name: Calidris temminckii (Leisler, 1812)

Bird group: Waders

Field characters. 14 cm. General appearance similar to that of Little Stint, but upperparts duller and more uniform grey-brown (without rusty tone), underparts more greyish instead of white, with a broader, closed breast-band, and legs brown to greenish-yellow, never black (but can be covered with mud); voice, choice of habitat and behaviour also differ. In flight, shows white outer tail-feathers (grey in Little Stint). Flight twisting, and "towers" when flushed. In winter even duller and more uniform. Juvenile has scaled olive-grey upperparts.

Voice. Song is a rising and falling trill, uttered in flight or on ground; when excited, note is a cricket-like "tirr", never a monosyllabic "chit".

Distribution. Locally common breeding bird in Fenno-Scandia, but winters outside Europe; passage through Europe.

Habitat. Outside breeding season mainly a freshwater bird, occurring on exposed mud of lakes and wetlands. Breeds in marshes of forest tundra and among low vegetation along fjords and rivers.

Food. Mainly insects and their larvae, worms, crustaceans, small molluscs, picked up from mud or sand surface.

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