[SBB] Little Stint details

["Steve and Heather Rottenborn" <[[email protected]]>]

South Bay Birders,

As posted earlier today by Mike Mammoser (thanks Mike), I briefly saw the 
Little Stint in New Chicago Marsh in Alviso this morning (20 July).

I arrived at about 09:50 and walked northwestward along the railroad tracks 
from the EEC entrance road.  I saw some peeps on the north side of the large 
pond between Spreckles Road and the railroad tracks and quickly scanned them 
with my scope, but saw nothing unusual.  As I continued to walk westward 
along the tracks to get closer to the peeps and get the light behind me, a 
juvenile harrier over the marsh north of the tracks scared up a number of 
birds, including several hundred peeps that flew across the tracks and 
landed in the Spreckles Road pond.  I scanned the birds spread out on the 
mud on the northeast side of the pond (closest to me) and on islands a bit 
farther southwest, then turned my scope on a small island about 150 m 
southwest of the tracks, where about 100-150 peeps were standing.  All the 
birds were standing (not sitting down with bills tucked in), most facing the 
same direction (northwest).  With a side-on view, the adult Little Stint 
stood out immediately among the Westerns due to the extent and brightness of 
the orangish color on the head, neck, and upperparts.  It was about 09:57, I 
was watching the bird from a distance of about 150 m with a KOWA scope (zoom 
20-60x, though I don't know what magnification I was using), and the sun was 
above and behind me.  Viewing conditions were good, as there was not too 
much heat haze at the time.  Although I can't be sure that the stint was not 
already in this pond when I arrived, I would guess that it had just flown in 
with the group that had been flushed by the harrier from the marsh north of 
the tracks.

I first concentrated on the pattern and color of the head, neck, and 
anterior underparts to make the Little vs. Red-necked Stint distinction. 
These areas were very apparent, as this and the other birds on the island 
were wary and looking around.  Unfortunately, I soon saw the reason why.  A 
person wearing thigh waders was slowly walking through the marsh from 
Spreckles Road almost directly toward these birds; as I eventually found 
out, she was heading out there to check and (on her second trip out there 
later) change out something in a black box affixed to a small pole out in 
the marsh, right next to the island where the stint was standing.  So, for 
the next two minutes (09:57 to 09:59), I alternatively looked at the stint 
and looked at this person, wondering what she was doing and incredulous that 
she was walking directly toward and was eventually going to flush the stint 
I had just spotted.  The birds on the island eventually did flush, and all 
the birds in the pond got up.  Most settled back down in this pond, 
primarily on the flats in the western and northern edges of the pond, but 
100 or so left the pond and headed north across the railroad tracks.  There 
were still 200-300 peeps in the Spreckles Road pond.  Looking down the 
tracks, I saw two birders slowly working their way southeastward toward me. 
Rather than trying to relocate the stint, I walked down the tracks to tell 
them (Pat Kenny and Roland Kenner) that I had just seen the bird.  We 
returned to the Spreckles Road pond, and I called a few people while we 
tried to refind the stint.  Others showed up, and I continued looking with 
them until about 11:30, but I never saw the bird again.

When I saw the Little Stint, it was standing among the group of Westerns, 
but because the island was a mound, the bird was not hidden behind the birds 
around it, and I could see virtually the entire right side of the bird.  At 
times, it rotated a bit toward me so that I could see its entire underparts, 
while at other times it turned away a bit so I could see its entire 
upperparts (at one point I was looking directly at its back), but most of 
the time I was looking just at its right side.  What stood out most among 
all the Westerns was how bright the bird was due to the extent of orangish 
color (it was actually more orangish-brown, not bright orange, but "orange" 
fit the color I was seeing better than "chestnut" [which to me implies more 
brownish] or "rufous" [more reddish]).  Some Westerns had bright rufous on 
the auriculars and lateral crown areas that spread out over the sides of the 
head somewhat, and some had extensive deep rufous on the scapulars, but this 
bird had a more orangish (not as reddish/rufous) tone to the brown on the 
head, neck, and sides of the breast, and this color was more uniform and 
much more extensive than on the Westerns.  I had never seen a Little Stint, 
but from photos of more brownish birds I have seen, this was clearly a 
relatively bright, more orangey individual.

The feathers of the crown were dark-centered with brownish-orange edging, 
producing a warm tone to the crown.  Below the crown, the supercilium was 
extensively washed with orangish-brown above the eye and posteriorly (near 
the rear of the face), being perhaps somewhat whiter between the eye and the 
rear of the face.  The supercilium was slightly paler than the rest of the 
head but was not very prominent, as the orangish tones from the crown 
continued down through the rear portion of the supercilium to the 
auriculars, and from the area around the eye down through the cheeks and 
down the back/sides of the neck onto the sides of the breast.  The cheeks 
and auriculars were not pure orangish, as they had some dark streaking.  The 
sides of the breast had moderately dense, poorly defined dark spots or short 
streaks that became less dense and even more poorly defined toward the 
center of the breast, and it was not clear to me whether this spotting 
extended all the way across the breast.  The orange from the sides of the 
neck extended down as a wash onto this spotted area and from there toward 
the center of the breast; however, this color became fainter toward the 
midline of the breast, which appeared whitish.  The chin and throat were 
white and appeared unmarked, contrasting with the orange-washed, 
dark-spotted area on the sides of the breast (though this contrast was not 
sharp, as the orange faded gradually toward the white throat and whitish 
midline of the breast rather than being sharply demarcated).  There were no 
extensive areas on the bird's cheeks, neck, or breast that were pure orange 
(without some dark streaking or spotting), as would be present on a 
Red-necked Stint, and the orangish color was not as deep rufous as is often 
present on the cheeks and throat of an alternate Red-necked Stint (though I 
must admit that I have never seen a Red-necked).  The belly was white.

The upperparts (back and upperwings) were more uniformly and extensively 
colorful (orange-rufous) than on any of the Westerns present.  The 
upperparts feathering had dark interiors, but the scapulars and many of the 
upperwing coverts had broad orange-rufous edging, and at least the upper 
tertials had pale rufous edging as well (though paler and narrower than on 
the scapulars).  As I had concentrated first on the head/throat/breast 
region, I did not study the feathering of the upperparts as closely or for 
as long, as by this time the person approaching the bird was getting fairly 
close, and my attention was going back and forth between that person and the 
bird.  As a result, I did not determine whether the lower tertials had 
rufous edging, and I have no recollection of either the presence or absence 
of pale mantle/scapular "braces" (which are apparent in one of Oscar Johnson's 
photos of the bird).

Overall, the stint was slightly smaller and shorter-legged than a small 
Western, though it appeared larger than a Least Sandpiper.  The bill was 
shorter and noticeably more slender than those of the Westerns, especially 
at the base.  On most Westerns (and on Semipalmated Sandpiper), the bill is 
deeper at the base than on this bird.  The stint's bill did taper toward the 
fine tip, but it looked more uniformly slender overall than on a Western or 
Semipalmated.  The bill was mostly straight, with the appearance of only 
very slight decurvature.  Both the bill and legs/feet were black.  I did not 
see any basic feathering in the upperparts.  With the exception of the bill 
(and overall size and shape), I did not study fine details of shape or 
structure before the bird flushed.

In comparison to other species, the bird was clearly much smaller and more 
slender-billed than a Sanderling, with which I am very familiar.  Features 
that seem to distinguish this bird from a Red-necked Stint are the paler 
orangish (not reddish/rufous) color on the face and neck; the dark spotting 
on the orangish color on the sides of the breast; the white throat and lack 
of any pure (i.e., unmarked by darker spots) orangish or rufous wash on the 
throat or face; and the colorful edging on many of the wing coverts and 
upper tertials.  I suppose bright juvenile Least Sandpipers can appear 
superficially similar to the description I gave above for this bird, but the 
legs of the stint were clearly black; the bird did not have the neat, fresh, 
short-scapulared appearance of a juvenile shorebird; the bird appeared 
slightly larger than a Least; and (though this is not useful in conveying 
anything to anyone else) at no time did the bird remind me at all of a 
Least.

I have no idea how long this bird will hang around, or what the best 
strategy for looking for it is other than trying to get close to as many 
peeps as possible in New Chicago Marsh.  Certainly there are people (such as 
Mike Rogers, Bob Reiling, and Frank Vanslager) who have spent much more time 
than I looking for this bird since it was first found on Sunday, so luck was 
key to seeing the bird this morning.

Good luck,

Steve Rottenborn
Morgan Hill, CA


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