Temminck's Stint

Calidris temminckii

Tiny, secretive, and creeps mouse-like through low vegetation. The shorebird that doesn't want to be seen delivering.

Population: 110,000–850,000 mature individuals (global estimate via BirdLife DataZone)
Habitat: Breeds in Arctic and sub-Arctic tundra, shrub tundra, and forest-tundra bogs/marshes/floodplains near river systems, fjords, and coastal inlets; on migration and in winter favors inland freshwater wetlands (floodlands, irrigated fields, sewage farms), sheltered estuaries, saltmarshes, and coastal mudflats, generally avoiding open sandy shorelines used by other small waders.
Fun fact: Temminck's Stint has an unusual breeding system in which a female can lay two clutches with the same or different mates, with each parent incubating and raising a separate clutch alone, sometimes in different locations, maximizing the pair's reproductive output in a single short Arctic summer.
Range: Breeds across a broad Palearctic band from southern Scandinavia (with occasional records in Scotland) eastward across northern Russia and Siberia to the Chukchi Peninsula; winters across tropical sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and parts of Southeast Asia.
Diet: Small invertebrates, chiefly insects and their larvae, plus other tiny invertebrates, gleaned by picking and probing in soft mud among low vegetation.
Size: 0.14 m
Wingspan: 0.355 m
Lifespan: 7 years

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