All four stints in one field on Yonaguni

On my only previous visit to Yonaguni, six years ago, I spent five nights on the island from April 5-9, this time I stayed from April 10-17. I didn't plan a contiguous time span but I was aware of the later timing wondering how this might affect the range of species I'd find. Of course with such a fine margin the weather can have a more significant influence, however the weather was basically the same on both occasions. Mild, largely overcast with frequent showers and with calm interludes between lengthy bouts of strong northerly winds. Not exactly what I might have expected.


I saw a slight increase in the number of wader species in 2019, perhaps not surprising give more field time, but missed out on two rarer birds Pec Sand (one 2013) and, the regions speciality, Oriental Plover (several 2013). Little Stint (two) was the only interesting species I picked up this time round that I'd missed on the previous visit.


On both occasions the same two areas were best for waders, flooded fields on the eastern outskirts of Sonai and at Hikawa. I wasn't too thrilled to see large scale development taking place at Hikawa and wonder whether those excellent fields may not be there much longer.


All the stints in this post were photographed at Hikawa where birds tend to be closer.


Little Stint...

Red-necked...

There were two Gulf of Thailand flagged birds.

Temminck's...

And Long-toed...

This bird gets the award for the drabbest Long-toed Stint I've seen.

And this one, with a Temminck's, wins the least obvious prize (no pun intended).

I was puzzled when I first saw this dumpy stint and I made a point of driving closer to get better shots, it took a few minutes for the penny to drop. Long-toed Stints invariably remind me of a long-sighted person struggling with a newspaper because of their upright gait on stretched legs and elongated neck, as if unable to focus on the mud when too close. To my shame I didn't even consider Least Sand until later in the day; oh that sinking feeling! Insert expletives of choice. I slammed on the brakes and stopped dead in the middle of the road (there isn't much traffic except between Sonai and Kubura, you'll see more military personnel jogging than cars), grabbed my camera and by pure luck I'd managed the middle toe money shot. Otherwise the whole trip could have been under a cloud because I never saw the bird again. The really stupid thing is that it's not unusual when I come across a Long-toed for me to wonder whether I'd totally overlook a Least if I ever saw one, and here I was totally deaf to any bell that might have rung.

Long-toed and Temminck's closer now and with a couple of Red-necked teaming-up.

Almost perfect line-up. The non-breeding Red-necked needs to work on its timing a little I think. And WHERE is the Little!!! The long middle toe is clearly visible here, no need to stress about the minutiae.

Long-toed Stint with the Phalaropes

Though the Red-necked Phalaropes were the undoubted stars of a post-typhoon post a couple of weeks ago, I was repeatedly drawn to this Long-toed Stint which was amazingly loyal to the one corner of the field. One reason I was pleased to get good views being a week earlier I'd had a Long-toed and Broad-billed Sand on a small, distant pond in Mie prefecture that had been impossible to approach.


Long-toed may not always look as though they're teetering on the edge of a face-first into the mud disaster but you don't have to watch one for long to get that impression.

How can this not topple face first into the mud...?

This would appear to be the answer, it's basically a foot with a small bird on top. It's not called Long-toed for nothing, that middle toe looks as long as the tibia!

A pale base to the lower mandible is one of the features separating Long-toed from Least Sandpiper, it's a good thing it isn't the only feature because even with these excellent views the yellowish base is really hard to detect.

This final image is lightened removing much of the colour from the plumage but the bill base colouration becomes a little more obvious.

A snapshot of September stints

I've recently been going over my images of Little Stints taken over the past couple of years... images of Little as well as possible / probable Little to be more precise. September juveniles seem relatively easy, but there is the odd bird that isn't so straight forward. By mid-October ongoing moult to non-breeding plumage leads to even more reliance on structural differences when trying to pick one out from a flock of local Red-necked. My experience with Little in the UK is so long ago to be meaningless and I'm trying to identify these birds from an Asian standpoint with Red-necked as my baseline stint. However living inland, I don't see Red-necked as often as I'd like and still consider myself very much a beginner when it comes to birds that don't come up to field guide expectations.


All the following images (except one) were taken on September 15.

A trio of Red-necked. These birds are very typical; short-legged and and long-winged giving them a long and low appearance, steep forehead and stout bill, the golden tint of the scapulars, grey wing coverts (when visible) and smudgy breast markings.

Little Stint (right) and four Red-necked, though only two easily seen and relevant. A distant shot and not all the birds are but importantly it gives a good feeling for how strikingly different fresh Little and Red-necked can look in the field. The long-bodied, short-legged Red-necked and the longer-legged less attenuated Little. Typically distant Red-necked look rather sandy and uniform in mid-September but Little is much darker above and altogether more contrasty.

Now a few closer shots of typical Red-necked...

A standard Red-necked. Richly marked centre crown with greyer sides, greyish breast with ill-defined spots, golden-fringed upper scapulars, mainly grey lower scaps with blackish centre line expanding into a subterminal teardrop with white tip, grey wing coverts with dark centre line, similar tertials with slightly golden fringes.

A brighter bird than the first.

A bright but pale bird. On this date no birds had replaced any juvenile feathers and few had even dropped any. 

Another bird with gaps in the lower scaps. This bird is very pale overall and lacks the brighter golden tints.



Scapulars and coverts are variable, this bird has Semipalmated-like anchors in the lower scaps. One day I may find a Semip but this bird is a very standard Red-necked in all other features. (Sept 9)

Getting into trickier territory here. Blacker upper scapulars lacking prominent golden fringes, largely black and white-fringed lower scapulars as well as distinct rusty spots on the breast sides might all suggest Little Stint. Nevertheless I think this is a Red-necked with worn upper scapulars reducing the golden fringes, the lower scaps are maybe at the blacker end of the scale but not impossible for Red-necked. The coverts are contrastingly paler, basically grey with just a darker centre line (and pale fringes), typical of Red-necked. Structurally it looks bang on for Red-necked, the main points being the blunt-tipped bill, short legs and the primary projection. Ignoring the longest primary, which is just visible, there are two primary tips beyond the tertials the next longest falls easily short of the longest tertial; this is the gold standard of Red-necked in my, admittedly limited, experience. In earlier images you'll find one bird with the third visible primary tip level with the longest tertial this seems to be as long as it gets. Little has a much longer primary projection often, but not always, with three feathers projecting beyond the tertials and clearly longer spacings between the feathers.   

Another shot of the same bird. The bill looks slimmer-tipped from this angle and the coverts much darker. Additionally the crown is more uniform with a hint of a split supercilium and the breast sides are distinctly marked with warmer than usual spots. On this view alone I'd be very tempted to call this a dull Little but I'm sticking with my Red-necked identification until someone with plenty of experience tells me I'm wrong.

A real Little on the same day for comparison. Notice how the warm breast streaks (rather than spots) are on a much whiter ground. Even at this angle the legs look longer, as does the bill. 

A nice comparison despite the Red-necked being out of focus. Typical Red-necked is warmer and more uniform, fresh Little a far more contrasty black and white. Having said that the breast side markings of Little are warmer. The difference in primary projecton is apparent, both the greater overall length and longer spacings of Little. The longer legs of Little are also obvious.   

I think this is a quite good example of how misleading single images can be. This shot shows a typical comparison with a sandy (or golden) Red-necked in the foreground showing its grey wing coverts and dull breast band. Structurally it is short-legged and has a shorter, blunter-tipped bill. The long-legged, long, slimmer-billed Little is typically boldly marked with strong contrasts. The next image is of the same two birds.

Suddenly this Red-necked is looking as long-legged (note the ring) as the Little. After mentioning the difference in primary projection this Little has a wing structure in the overlap zone with longer-winged Red-necked. In this shot the Red-necked primary projection matches typical Little but this is largely due to it stretching forward and it didn't give this impression in the field. 

An unambiguous comparison.

The next comparison shocked me at the time; I was focused on the Little Stint and didn't notice the other bird in the background until I looked at the images. The bird is so strikingly different to the typical Red-necked that my first emotion was fear, dreading that I'd missed a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) it's just a very different-looking Red-necked.

A mystery stint hove into view (finder), very thick billed, very uniformly dull, short-winged(?)...sadly that head pattern knocks any thoughts of Semip on the head. However I'm left with a very interesting and different Red-necked Stint.

Thank goodness I got a lucky second shot alongside the Little. I'd put this birds appearance down to being more worn than the other birds but it may be that the fringes are simply narrower than normal.

Little can look like a 'Stilt Stint' at times. 

Everything I'd hope for in a September juvenile Little Stint.

The third visible primary from the tip is conveniently fringed white, falling equal to the longest tertial it would be distinctly long for a Red-necked but is certainly within an overlap zone, and they do come even shorter.

The main reason I haven't shown any adults is because I didn't see any. However I seem to see only adults in August when they very dark in worn breeding plumage.

An adult Red-necked in early August.

Temminck's Stint is scarce in Kansai and I see more birds during winter or on spring passage than I do in autumn. Long-toed Stint is reasonably common at this time of year but they are more difficult to find tending to be in ones or twos on fields with more vegetation. In any case they don't present any identification difficulties... unless you're hoping for a Least Sandpiper, but that would definitely be another story.





Long-toed Stint, 10 August.

Long-toed Stint, 8 September.

calidris to glareola

Both Great and Red Knot are regular in tidal areas in Kansai. Great is likely to be present in small numbers on estuaries just south of Tsu in Mie throughout migration periods but it is less certain at Nanko in Osaka. Red is far less common and far from guaranteed on any given a wader hunt but again the Tsu/Matsusaka area is the best bet.

Great Knot at Ebie on the Yodo River in Osaka, September 2009. This site, a small rocky/sandy island just off-shore in the river, can be worth stopping off to check out as it often attracts an interesting variety of waders at high tide but it's not worth making a special trip there as numbers are always small and there's no certainty of anything there.   

Great Knot on Yonaguni early April 2013.

Sanderling can be expected from mid-August onwards on sandy shores, they are quite common in Mie and probably on all suitable beaches.

April birds still looking very wintery on the beach in Tsu city, Mie.

August Sanderlings often look so small running from incoming waves so it's interesting to see how large they are compared to Red-necked Stints.

A January Sanderling in Mie.

Red-necked Stint is a common passage bird and can be found on muddy areas inland as well as at the coast. Tidal areas can have big concentrations and this is a wader visiting birders should have no problem finding at the right times of year. Nanko in Osaka invariably has at least a few, and often large numbers, daily during migration.

Red-necked Stints 8 April starting to acquire breeding plumage.

Another still largely winter on the same date.

Juvenile Red-necked Stints in September, Mie.

Western, Semipalmated and Baird's sandpipers will be off the radar of any visiting birder. I don't think there's ever been a report of Semipalmated in the region but I know of two autumn Westerns in Osaka in recent years, one at Nanko and another on a reclamation area about a kilometre south as the bird flies, and Baird's is also very rare at Nanko. Little Stint is another rare bird here, probably not annual in the region, but there have been a few more records than the other three. Below are two I found in a flock of Red-necked Stints last September (2014).

Little Stint September 2014 Matsusaka, Mie.

A second Little Stint in the same flock of Red-necked Stints.

Temminck's Stint is more regular, yet it somehow took years before I connected with my first here. Since then I bump into them now and again but they can't be expected by a visiting birder.

Part of a wintering flock one Christmas Eve at the top of Ise Bay, the White Wagtail gives a sense of scale.

One of a small party of Temminck's on Ishigaki, April 2013.

Another Temminck's on Ishigaki.

Long-toed Stint is a regular passage bird on wet fields and though in low numbers it's one of the more reliably found passage waders occurring at Ogura in Kyoto city, if you can find suitable fields. Rice fields here aren't yet harvested during peak wader migration whereas in nearby Mie the rice harvest will have been completed and the problem may be too many wet fields to check if the weather has been rainy. It can also be seen at Nanko in Osaka though in far lower numbers than Red-necked.

One of two Long-toed Stints on a flooded field at Ogura, mid-August.

A Long-toed Stint in typical habitat, Mie September 2013. 

Long toes displayed to good effect.

The short wings and short primary projection are obvious here.

Pectoral Sandpiper is another rare wader in the region. They are more regular in spring in the southern most islands. The shots below are of a breeding plumage adult on Yonaguni, April 2013.

Quite a nice comprison between Sharpie (left) and Pec (right).

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is reasonably common and should be relatively easy to find in spring and autumn. Flooded fields might prove best but tidal pools can also be good.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Yonaguni, April 2013.

Curlew Sandpiper is a scarce migrant through the area, I've never seen an inland bird so the usual coastal areas hold the most hope. In practise that means Nanko in Osaka or Ise Bay.
Dunlin is more of a winter bird, occasionally there will even be a flock on the Kamo River near the botanical gardens, but the best area is along the beaches around Tsu and Matsusaka in Mie where huge numbers can be found. There is always a flock in front of the nature centre at Kohakucho on northern Lake Biwa, however they are without fail grey and white spots gathered on the distant concrete blocks way out on the lake. They never leave those blocks, it's as if they've been taking lessons from Rock Sandpipers.
Spoon-billed Sandpiper is another not-to-be-expected bird, not least because their occurrence may well be suppressed depending on where they turn up. They aren't annual in Kansai, further west in Kyushu is a much better bet.
Broad-billed Sandpiper is scarce, with luck you could see one at Nanko and searching the Tsu/Matsusaka area might also be worthwhile, there's usually at least one around somewhere.
Ruff is rare, I've only seen onein Kyoto city, a mid-winter bird, but coastal sites are generally better.
Red-necked Phalarope is very common off the Pacific and Japan Sea coasts in spring and autumn but short of travelling by ferry, either short to one of the off-shore islands or longer distance the visitor is unlikely to see one. The odd bird turns up on flooded inland fields, Ogura gets them occasionally. Much the same can be said of Grey Phalarope but they are far less common overall and I've never see an inland bird.

Yonaguni, April 2013.

Winter Dunlins in Mie, 11 January 2014.

 

Winter Dunlin January 2015.

Broad-billed Sandpiper on mudflats in Mie, August 2014.

An April Ruff in Mie. No doubt they are annual there but only visiting occasionally means luck is needed to bump into one here.

A flock of  breeding plumage phalaropes from the Hegura ferry, there were about 90 Red-necked with a single Grey. May 2014.

Oriental Pratincoles can be found on the fields at Ogura every August when a few pass through.  Tramping round the fields for them in the heat is hard work, a car makes life much easier. The shots below were all taken on Yonaguni in April 2013.