Little Stint

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Little Stint at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Rocherpan Nature Reserve, De Hoop Nature Reserve, De Mond Nature Reserve and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park and other reserves. A record means a host has seen it on the property or nearby, which makes these the places to base yourself; it is never a guarantee of a sighting on any given day.

The Little Stint is most recorded in Western Cape (68% of records), KwaZulu-Natal (10% of records), Gauteng (6% of records), based on 1,026 iNaturalist observations. 32 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the Little Stint on site or nearby.

The Little Stint is recorded throughout the year, so no month is the wrong month to look for it. For the parks where hosts record it most, these are the best seasons they give. Kruger National Park: Apr-Sep; Kwandwe Private Game Reserve: year-round, best Mar-May, Sep-Nov; Rocherpan Nature Reserve: Winter and spring for birds and flowers, Jun-Oct; De Hoop Nature Reserve: Sep-Apr, flowers Aug-Oct. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

The little stint (Calidris minuta) (or Erolia minuta), is a very small wader. It breeds in arctic Europe and Asia, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to Africa and south Asia. It occasionally is a vagrant to North America and to Australia. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds.