To chalk more lifers I am spending more effort to go "wadering" in the early migratory period of September 2026 but the birds are still not aplenty but in hundreds which is good enough still.
The breeding adult has dark brown upperparts patterned with narrow, pale feather fringes, and white underparts with blackish markings on the breast. It has a pale crown stripe, and a distinctive double (split) supercilium. The bill is slightly broader than in most other Calidris species, with a tip kinked beak. The two subspecies differ in the summer plumage feather fringing, narrow and white in C. f. falcinellus, brighter and rufous-toned in C. f. sibirica. (wiki)
The winter plumage is much paler and greyer above and white below, like a winter dunlin, but retains the distinct head pattern. Juveniles have backs similar to a young dunlin or little stint with pale "tramlines" down the mantle, but the white flanks and belly and brown-streaked breast are distinctive.
The contact call is a dry, whistling dree-it, dree-it and a clicking dik dik, similar to the little stint.
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| Sighting by ML in Morib September 2026 |
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