Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Red-necked Stints

This post is for Wild Bird Wednesday which Stewart has started after the World Bird Wednesday was discontinued. 

I am only posting one photo this week.  Of all the 50 or so photos I took out at Inskip Point last week this one was the most interesting to a shorebird watcher in the southern hemisphere.  It is winter down here right now and the only shorebirds around are juveniles and the occasional adult that has decided for some reason not to migrate this season.  The rest of the shorebirds are making use of the summer weather in the northern hemisphere for their breeding season.  The birds in the photo are Red-necked Stints (Calidris ruficollis) which are the smallest of all the shorebirds that migrate to Australia for our summer.  Although there is a small size difference between similar birds that difference is greatly magnified in the photo because of the way each bird is standing.  The bird on the right is in complete non-breeding plumage and the bird on the left is in almost total breeding plumage.  The one in the center has a very small amount of breeding color in some of the feathers down its back.  I can't remember ever seeing a Red-necked Stint showing this amount of breeding plumage at this time of year.  (Click on the photo to see a larger size with more detail visible.)

20 comments:

  1. they are so cute! adorable photo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely photos, Mick.
    Thanks for your kind comments on my Blog, re Lena, too.
    Denis

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great shot, beautiful birds and shadows.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely closeups. These birds are elusive for me.....too far to get any close shots. Nice work!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's amazing!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What cute little characters! And love how their defined shadows enhance their shape! Beautiful photo!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful shot, Mick! The lighting is fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice photo of the stints. Before you know it, the summer birds will be back.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a beautiful plumage comparison shot Mick! Gorgeous birds those Red-necked Stints!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful picture you show :)
    Wishing you a good day :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. These are nice little birds - I wonder how many times I've taken them out of a net, banded them and then let them go. I'm sure I'm going to find one of "our" birds with a leg flag in your pictures one day.

    Stewart M – Australia

    PS: sorry about the lack of thumbnails this week – will get it right for WBW #3

    ReplyDelete
  12. Marvelous shot, Mick! and so instructive!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great shots ... they're so cute :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nice shot showing the different stages of plumage.

    ReplyDelete
  15. they look beautiful. Maybe they were fooled by all the crazy weather all over the globe. :(

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a beautiful image and those birds are lovely!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. What gorgeous birds, Mick! That's a lovely shot. I'd love to be able to capture these one day.
    I hadn't really thought about the many shore birds still here around Moreton Bay being juveniles.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Nice plumage comparison. You got three very nice examples all together.

    ReplyDelete