Calidris minuta
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The little stint (Calidris minuta) is a very small wader. It breeds in arctic Europe and Asia, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to Africa and south Asia. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America and to Australia. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific minuta is Latin for "small.
Its small size, fine dark bill, dark legs and quicker movements distinguish this species from all waders except the other dark-legged stints. It can be distinguished from these in all plumages by its combination of a fine bill tip, unwebbed toes and long primary projection. The call is a sharp "stit".
The breeding adult has an orange wash to the breast, a white throat and a strong white V on its back. In winter plumage identification is difficult. Juveniles have pale crown stripes and a pinkish breast. An apparent hybrid between this species and Temminck's stint has been reported from the Netherlands.
The numbers of this species (and of curlew sandpiper) depend on the population of lemmings. In poor lemming years, predatory species such as skuas and... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karachi | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | |
| 2 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 3 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 4 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Dammam | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 8 | Agra | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Tunis | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | |
| 10 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Little Stint sighting in West Coast National Park on a given day, based on 779 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 37th most-seen of the 192 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Little Stint in West Coast National Park on a given day, against about 10% in May and July, the lowest months. That is one of West Coast National Park's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain against 70 mm in June.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Little Stint sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 55 parks where we can rate Little Stint sightings, West Coast National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 30%) and Amboseli National Park (Kenya, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Calidris
The closest relatives of the Little Stint that you can see in West Coast National Park (genus Calidris, Calidris Sandpipers) are Curlew Sandpiper (about 50%), Sanderling (about 40%) and Red Knot (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Little Stint is recorded against all the birds logged in West Coast National Park (779 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
