The Little Stint is a common and widespread passage migrant and winter visitor in our area. It breeds in the High Arctic, up to and beyond the Arctic Circle, and the first birds start arriving in August (or even July in the case of failed breeders). The exodus in spring begins in March and continues into May or even June. Little Stints need areas of open mud and sand or very shallow water. They are one of the smallest of all the waders and cannot wade in anything deeper than a couple of centimetres and they rarely swim when feeding. They also dislike grass as they cannot see over it. While small parties might be found on the bare banks of village ponds or on the open sludge at sewage works, they are most likely to be seen in large flocks on shallow floods on ploughed or fallow fields or on the mud banks of the Ganga

In the most favoured locations, flocks of up to 500 are quite regular. These flocks feed closely together and when flying make rapid and well coordinated turns so that it is very difficult to follow them. This flocking behaviour, its twittering as opposed to trilling call and its preference for open habitats are useful distinctions from the more solitary or at least scattered Temminck’s Stint, although the two can be seen together.