Stint

A stint is one of several very small waders in the paraphyletic "Calidris" assemblage - often separated in Erolia -, which in North America are known as peeps. They are scolopacid waders much similar in ecomorphology to their distant relatives, the charadriid plovers.

Some of these birds are difficult to identify because of the similarity between species, and various breeding, non-breeding, juvenile and moulting plumages. In addition, some plovers are also similarly patterned, especially in winter. With a few exceptions, stints usually have a fairly stereotypical color pattern, being brownish above and lighter - usually white - on much of the underside. The breast sides are almost always colored like the upperside, and there is usually a lighter supercilium above brownish cheeks. Notably, golden or orangey colors - common in plovers - are absent.

Systematics and taxonomy
The genus Calidris is not monophyletic in its traditional delimitations and should be restricted to the stout Red Knot and its allies. The genus Erolia was often used for the stints ever since it was proposed by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1816. However, the type species of Erolia is the Curlew Sandpiper, which is not traditionally included among the stints.

No firm consensus has been reached on the Curlew Sandpiper's phylogenetic status (i.e., what its closest relatives are) and hence Erolia cannot be exactly delimited at present. This notwithstanding, the stints together with a few slightly more distinct calidrids would indeed warrant separation as a distinct genus. The Sanderling, sometimes placed in Crocethia, is among these and it may be that this genus name would apply.

The species usually considered stints/peeps are:
 * Great Knot, Calidris tenuirostris
 * Red Knot, Calidris canutus
 * Surfbird, Calidris virgata
 * Ruff, Calidris pugnax
 * Broad-billed Sandpiper, Calidris falcinellus
 * Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Calidris acuminata
 * Curlew Sandpiper, Calidris ferrugineus
 * Stilt Sandpiper, Calidris himantopus
 * Temminck's Stint, Calidris temminckii
 * Long-toed Stint, Calidris subminuta
 * Red-necked Stint, Calidris ruficollis
 * Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Calidris pygmeus
 * Sanderling, Calidris albus
 * Dunlin, Calidris alpina
 * Purple Sandpiper, Calidris maritima
 * Rock Sandpiper, Calidris ptilocnemis
 * Baird's Sandpiper, Calidris bairdii
 * Little Stint, Calidris minuta
 * Least Sandpiper, Calidris minutilla
 * White-rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis
 * Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Calidris subruficollis
 * Pectoral Sandpiper, Calidris melanotos
 * Semipalmated Sandpiper, Calidris pusillus
 * Western Sandpiper, Calidris mauri