ML30363601
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult, Unknown sex - X
Media notes
This photo was digiscoped through a Nikon Fieldscope ED78 (30X eyepiece), using a 50mm lens on a hand-held SLR film camera. It documents (a) that there is no webbing on this bird's raised left foot, ruling out both Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers; (b) a spike-like, finely tipped, and slenderly based bill, characteristic of Little Stint; (c) an unmarked, pure white chin and throat, characteristic of Little Stint, but not of alternate-plumaged Red-necked Stint; and (d) no brightness-darkness contrast between scapulars and wing coverts, which is fully compatible with Little Stint but not with Red-necked Stint, which shows such a contrast.
Observation details
I am providing herewith six photos that document the presence of Little Stint on this occasion. All of these photos were taken via digiscoping. In each case this involved hand-holding a film SLR camera to the eyepiece of a spotting scope in order to get photos showing enough detail of this bird to be useful in decisive identification. One of the six photos herewith was taken through my own scope and the other five through a different scope that one of the other birders kindly allowed me to use. It was a far better scope for this particular purpose than my own, largely because the angled eyepiece helped to support and stabilize the camera, plus it allowed zoom as needed for particular distances. Full details of this birding experience were provided by me in an article entitled "Little Stint (Calidris minuta) near Pike's Beach, Westhampton Dunes, Suffolk County, NY" in "The Kingbird" (Dec. 2000, Vol 50, No.4, pp. 344-357; publication of Federation of New York State Bird Clubs, Inc.). A photo-inclusive, detailed report of this record was accepted by the New York State Avian Records Committee. During its foraging the Little Stint favored areas littered with seaweed and horshoe crab shells and, more generally, relatively higher, dryer areas of the shore. In such areas it frequently found itself in the presence of Least Sandpipers and, occasionally, Semipalmated Sandpipers. The Little Stint featured in this report evinced behavioral characteristics typical of that species, namely, being very energetic and almost always on the move (on long legs that helped it move very fast); and a tendency to be aggressive toward many of the birds entering its presumed feeding territory. It often would confront them with a crouched, head-down posture, obviously intended as a threat, and if that did not work, it would charge rapidly in their direction in such an attitude. This individual also proved itself brave (and accommodating, from our perspective), for it did not fly in response to the low over-flight of more than one plane and a helicopter (separate incidents), circumstances to which many of the other shorebirds in the area took flight. It seemed a self-confident, bold, and very energetic creature.
Technical information
- Dimensions
- 429 pixels x 307 pixels
- Original file size
- 41.96 KB