MarshallJ, Iliff and Canadaas "peeps"and in the Old From June to August, breeding occurs World as stints. Membersof this group between northern Scandinaviathrough 246Fast 16th Street, 16th St., Unit B poseconsiderable field identificationchal- north-centralSiberia in tundra and taiga lenges,the most difficult of which arises habitats (dd Hoyo et al. ]996, A.O.U. CostaMesa, California 92627 amongthe foursinall, black-legged species: 1998); breedinghas also occasionallybeen Semipalmated(C. pusilia)and Western(C. documentedon the ChukotskiyPeninsula (email:
[email protected]) mauri) Sandpipers,and Litde and Red- in eastern Siberia (Gibson and Kessel 1992). necked(C. ruficollis)Stints, which are sim- Litfie Stint wintersthroughout Africa and ilarin size,structure, and plumage_ Indeed, the Mediterraneanand east through the BrianL. Sullivan Red-necked and Little Stints can be so sim- Arabian Peninsulaand the PersianGulf, to fiat that even somespecimens have been India and Myanmar,in a wide varietyof PRBOConservation Science consideredunidentifiable. For instance, a wetlandhabitats (del Hoyoet al. 1996,Zim- second-year[SY] stint collectedat the mermanet al_1996, A.O.U. 1998, Grimmerr 4990Shoreline Highway SaltonSea, Imperial County, California, 17 et al. 1999). It wintersonly rarelyin the August1974 (Ericksonand Hamilton2001; United Kingdo•nand southeasternMada- StinsonBeach, California 94970 SDNHM#38887) was initially identified as gascar(dd Hoyoet al. 1996). a Red-neckedStint (McCaskie 1975), the Little Stint migrates widely through latter identificationalso supported by Veit Europeand westernAsia, typically moving ABSTRACT (1988). More recently,however, the indi- southward to southwestward from its Arctic This paperreviews the 91 reportsof Little vidual has been considered unidentifiable breedinggrounds. Recendy, it has been Stint (Calidris mimaa) in the Ne• World and by the CaliforniaBird RecordsCommittee foundto occurrarely but regularlyin Thai- providesinformation on geographicaland (C.B.R.C.) (Erickson and Hamilton 2001).