Red-necked Stint

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The Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis) is the smallest shorebird to make the long migration from the northern hemisphere to our area here. I usually see them busily hunting for food among the saltmarsh plants or sitting in small flocks at high tide. They usually let you approach quite closely without doing more than sleepily blink at you.
The last two days have had unusually high tides along most of the east coast area. I have never seen them so high here. (One tide expert said there have not been tides this high for the last 18 years!) Bay-side walks and car parks were underwater. We kayaked to two of the roosts we usually count and there was no land at all left for the birds. The water was right up among the trees and tall rushes and grasses. The birds were whirling in great flocks overhead – a spectacular sight! They would swoop down over their normal roost site then whirl up again and fly further along the bay. A few minutes later another flock would whirl overhead and the same thing would be repeated. It would have been two to three hours before they could find dry roosts around the bay again. At first we did not see any of the smaller shorebirds in these flocks and then saw several large flocks. When we kayaked to the area of the bay where they had flown we found a few tiny bits of sand just coming out of the water again and on each there were tiny birds packed closely. The photo below shows Red-necked Stints and a Red-capped Plover in one such flock. There was also a single Lesser Sand Plover with them.