27 August 2023

Little Stints – Jubail

Little Stint numbers are slowly increasing with some birds still in partial summer plumage. This is not such an easy species to photograph well as they are continually on the move feeding on insects and other items, often far from the shoreline. Their relatively small size also means it is important to try to get quite close and they often fly if another bigger wader comes along. Below are my best attempts last weekend, where I saw up to thirty birds feeding along the edge of the flooded sabkha. The species is an abundant passage migrant and very common winter visitor and is probably the commonest wader seen in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.