Little stint

    Calidris minuta

Castilian: Correlimos menudo

Catalan: Territ menut

Gallego: Pilro pequeno

Euskera: Txirri txikia

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Charadriiformes

Family: Scolopacidae

Migratory status: Passage migrant

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category. In the 2004 edition of the Red Book of Spanish Birds (Libro Rojo de las Aves de España) it is listed as “Not Evaluated”.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

listen song

THREATS

The most important threats are the transformation and destruction of its wintering habitat and disturbances caused by humans.

Length / size: 14-15,5 cm / 27-30 cm

Identification: It is the smallest wader. Its legs and bill are black and its belly is always white. During mating season, the adult's head and the sides of its neck are orange, its throat is white and the feathers on its back are black with brown spots and white at the tip. Its plumage is greyish during the rest of the year and the rachis of its feathers are black.

Song: In flight it makes a high-pitched and penetrating "steet" sound.

Diet: It feeds on aquatic invertebrates.

Reproduction: It places the nest in a small depression in the ground, hidden among the vegetation and covered with stalks and grass.

HABITAT

It occupies wet areas with little vegetation and silty or rocky banks.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: In winter it is distributed throughout the Guadalquivir marshes, the Bay of Cádiz and the Ebro Delta; in passage it appears in coastal areas and wetlands in the interior of the peninsula and in the Balearic Islands.

In Castile and León: In winter it concentrates in Villafáfila (Zamora), but in passage it can be seen in all the provinces.

Movements and migrations: Specimens from Atlantic Europe arrive between August and September, and they cross the peninsula and the Balearic Islands to winter in sub-Saharan Africa; they return north between May and June.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 600-18000 wintering specimens.

In Castile and León: