Red-necked Stint

About the Red-necked Stint

The red-necked stint or rufous-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) is a small migratory wader that breeds in northeast Russia and spends the non-breeding season along the coastlines of Southeast Asia and Australasia. The red-necked stint was formally described in 1776 by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas under the binomial name Trynga ruficollis. The specific epithet ruficollis is Modern Latin meaning "red-necked" from Latin rufus meaning "red" or "rufous" and -collis meaning "-necked" or "-throated". The type locality is southern Transbaikal in eastern Siberia. The red-necked stint is now placed with 23 other species in the genus Calidris that was introduced in 1804 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem. The species is monotypic, with no subspecies recognised. Within the genus Calidris the red-necked stint is most closely related to the spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea).

These birds are among the smallest of waders, very similar to the little stint, Calidris minuta, with which they were once considered conspecific. The red-necked stint's small size, fine dark bill, dark legs and quicker movements distinguish this species from all waders... Wikipedia →