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.

Common Ringed Plover and Red-necked Stints

I've only been out a handful of times during the last two or three months, mostly in Kyoto and Shiga forests but with a couple of trips to Mie recently now that the potential for good shorebirds is on the rise.


Yesterday's undoubted highlight was a Common Ringed Plover before the rising tide finally covered the last feeding areas for most wader species and they flew off to roost somewhere. I suppose Ringed Plover isn't rare enough to make a fuss of but I'm still way down in single digit sightings in Japan after all these years. So it's not to be sneezed at either. It was well worth getting sandblasted on the beach to get the shots as a new-sprung wind was being pulled ever more urgently to the south by yet another approaching typhoon.


I'd been at the same spot for the falling tide in the morning as the sun edged above the horizon, hoping to catch some waders in the softer morning light. It's surprising how infrequently optimal tides coincide with both my free time and, crucially of course, any birds actually being present at any suitable location; too many of the good wader spots will have you looking directly into a rising sun. Unfortunately this Terek Sand was the only bird that came close enough to allow any decent shots.

It was already quite hot so sitting on the wet sand didn't bother me in the least, the only problem was a small flock of Red-necked Stints were the only other birds using this area. There was a flock of Oystercatchers just behind me but they were barely recognisable even as birds against the glare of the horizon.

All the Stints were adults, juveniles haven't arrived yet, and getting reasonable shots of them was quite difficult for me (you'd think I'd be used to the camera by now) with half the bird in bright light, the other in deep shade.

This was by far the most advanced bird in terms of moult.

That's quite a stout bill on this one. A few feathers dropped but nothing new as yet, the only visible grey is from exposed feather bases rather than seasonal replacements. 

It should be obligatory for all stints/peeps to turn and show their feet like this...

...this one is a fail.

Same Stints, different beach. Not being a mad dog I could sit in the car here rather than go out in the midday sun. Quite prominent but not exceptional braces on this bird.

When Sanderling is mistaken for Red-necked it must always be when there are zero other waders around for comparison. The three Sanderling on the beach looked absolutely huge compared to the Stints.

After spending my time birding a few kilometres to the south I returned to the original estuary before the next high tide and immediately picked out my star-of-the-day Ringed Plover about 150m off the seawall. As I mentioned earlier the wind was really blowing now and many waders were sheltering below a steep sand ridge. while I, in search of cover, had to make do with the windward side of the ridge.

There were only about 20 Red-necked Stints here but no matter what I tried to photograph the Stints always contrived to get in the picture. I have Sand Plovers with Stints, Tattlers with Stints, Grey Plovers... Ruddy Turnstones... and here, bird-of-the-day, Common Ringed Plover.

The wing-bar just about shows through here.

The Ruddy Turnstones really loved this wash-up tree stump and were still probing into all those small bore holes when I left.

Just to tag on a few extra shots from a week earlier. These are of Grey Plovers on a beach about 20km to the south and again taken as the sun was just coming up.

Grey Plovers are quite common at the moment but they tend to stay way out on sand bars. I was able to catch these birds at high tide when most off-shore areas are under water.

And the sun is up!

This looks a very standard sort of GP to my eyes; hefty, deep-bodied, big-billed... dumpy but huge with it. It may not be as ungainly as a Greater Sand Plover but there's something a tad off about it. Were it a horse I dare say it would be more at home between the shafts of an old cart (rag'n'bone) than on the track. That said, take a look at the next bird on a different beach...

I think this bird has species issues; it probably feels it should have been hatched a Pacific Goldie (or American).

Aggressive stints

A couple of weeks ago at high tide I noticed a party of Red-necked Stints feeding around a small pond just above the beach. One bird was behaving in a very aggressive manor, running at all the other birds with its tail held vertically, bill downward and wings slightly opened while calling loudly. This in itself wasn't so odd but after a few minutes most of the other stints began to adopt the same behaviour until there was very little feeding taking place at all. This wasn't the first time I've noticed this aggressive behaviour and it seems to be a response to insufficient 'personal space' at or around high tide. What I don't remember having seen before is the same behaviour when space is restricted on a muddy field or other similarly cramped inland area.


The following few shots were taken last weekend just as the tide began to drop and the first few exposed square metres attracted the stints. Nothing else arrived until the water dropped further, the stints always seem more impatient to get on with things!

A juvenile Red-necked getting ready to take on all comers.

This adult scores more highly for technical ability and artistic interpretation.

The posturing never has the slightest effect (why bother?) and is followed by the charge.

Later in the day with the mudflats exposed all was sweetness and light... almost.

They would never have co-existed like this earlier in the day. Just having the space available seems to do the trick as they roved this way and that. No need to get excited, the big bird facing away is a Dunlin.

The Little Stint (right) stuck like glue to that small penalty spot-sized puddle. When a Peregrine flushed everything off, it came back to its private pool. The Red-necked Stints, now amicably moving across the mud, little realise they are about to transgress.  

Any Red-necked that crossed the invisible line would cause the tail-up threat posture.

The Little was kept pretty busy.

I never saw the same posturing from the lone Temminck's Stint, it would only voice a warning.

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.