Little Stint in Pennsylvania! ~ August 1, 2025

Jason Horn called me at around 10:00 AM to let me know that a Little Stint, a Eurasian shorebird rarely seen in North American had been identified at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia by Martin Dellwo. He was already on his way. I was working on finishing eating when Mike Schall called me and asked if I was going for the Stint. When I told him I was about to leave, he said he was about 10 minutes from my house and asked if he could go along. That was fine with me, so soon after, we started the hour-and-a-half drive down there.

We found Jason and several others checking out a small flock of 'peeps' from the one deck. It wasn't there, and soon after, an immature Peregrine Falcon chased them off to the west.

An immature Peregrine Falcon.

Another birder reported a large group of 'peeps' about a mile to the west, so we walked all the way over there. As soon as we got there, another birder found the Stint among another group of 'peeps' in the southeast corner of the impoundment, so we hoofed it another mile back to the east. When we got there, it was a "Where's Waldo" situation of picking it out among at least 800 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Thankfully, it had an orange wash to the head and neck, which helped it stand out among the masses. I got several nice looks at it through the scope, but every time I tried to get a distant documentation photo of it, the group would lift off, swirl around, and drop back down. Then, we'd have to start all over trying to pick it out again from the rest. This happened a few times, but then the Peregrine Falcon came in and chased them all off to a different section of the impoundment, so I never did get a photo of it.

It was the first Pennsylvania record of Little Stint! There are only about two dozen records for the entire eastern U.S. coast. Mike and I were both happy enough with the looks we got of the bird, so we headed back, getting to my house at around 6:00 PM.

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