General

Red-necked Stint: Small sandpiper with mottled brown upperparts and streaked cap; white underparts; upper breast is rust-brown and spotted. Face and throat are unstreaked rust-brown. Bill is white around base and on part of the supercilium; legs are black. Winter adult has a streaked crown and gray lateral breast patches. Sexes are similar. Female has a slightly larger bill and wings. Juvenile has a buff back with gray and pale edges; buff and black streaked crown, gray ear coverts; ochre washed breast with faint streaks on sides of breast.

Range and Habitat

Red-necked Stint: Breeds on the tundra in arctic northeast Siberia; migrates through Siberia, Mongolia, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia to Australia. Recorded on the western coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands on migration. Preferred habitats include saline sand bars and tidal mudflats along coasts.

Breeding and Nesting

Red-necked Stint: Four yellow eggs with red brown spots at larger ends are laid on the ground on a small pile of grass or tundra moss lined with willow leaves. Incubation ranges from 21 to 23 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Red-necked Stint: These stints are omnivorous. They feed on insects, small invertebrates, mollusks, crustaceans and gastropods, as well as seeds and plants. They forage on the shore in wet grassland and soft mud, and occasionally in shallow water, mainly picking up food by sight, picking rapidly at the ground as they dart between feeding spots.

Vocalization

Red-necked Stint: Utters high-pitched squeaks and twittering, such as "wheet, wheet, whek, whek."

Similar Species

Red-necked Stint: These birds are very small waders, very similar to Little Stint, with which they were once considered conspecific.