This week, we offer our readers a chance to discuss about the differences between Red-necked Stint and Sanderling. How can we find them in Vietnam’s natural habitat and which types of other birds can we find on the journey?

SANDERLING

Sanderlings look like outsized stints. They are structurally similar, with a short, straight bill. However, here are the differences:
- They are substantially larger than stints
- Sanderlings have no hind toe
- The bill ratio with the head is larger, nearly touch the naped (fully the head )
- They are quite white compared to other waders. In adult winter and juvenile plumage, they often show a blackish shoulder mark at the bend of the wing.

How can you find Sanderlings in natural habitat? Typically, they prefer sandy beaches, where they can run along the tideline at breakneck speed

RED-NECKED STINT
Red-necked Stint is small, groups and feeding at intertidal mudflats.
Further ìnormation:
- Red-necked Stints clearly have hind toe
- There bill ratio and head are smaller, just ½ of the head.

WHERE AND WHEN TO LOOK FOR STINTS AND SANDERLINGS?
When we go birding in shorebird at Vietnam, we must choose exactly period time to get the goal. The shorebirds, which breed in the northern hemisphere, only visit Vietnam during their non-breeding seasons.

In Vietnam, we can observe southward migration from September, with numbers peaking in October and December. Overwintering birds may be observed throughout the northern winter months. After that, they will flight back to the north again from March
WHERE TO FIND RED-NECKED STINTS AND SANDERLINGS IN VIETNAM BIRDING TOUR?
Many places along the coasts in Vietnam birding tour have the benefitial habitat for shorebirds. Estuaries flow into the sea with sedimentation and flooding. The place is markedly influenced by tides with sand, mud, and salt fields …

Some of the coasts adjacent to these estuaries may be found on shorebirds.
Red-necked Stints appear in most good quality intertidal mudflats along the coast of Mekong Delta, often in large numbers. Especially in Go Cong, Tien Giang Province and Can Gio, Ho Chi Minh City.
WHICH TYPES OF SPECIAL BIRDS CAN WE OBSERVE?

Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a bird that attracts all birding trip in Vietnam. They have the habit always go with the Red-necked Stint. In addition, in this beach area we can meet other attractive targets such as: Nordmann’s Greenshank, Far-eastern Curlew, Great Knot.
Next reading for : How to identify Reck-necked Stint and Spoon-billed Sandpiper?
Some images of Sanderling and Red-necked Stint.

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