The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds.

It differs from that species in its more slender, longer-necked appearance, longer toes, somewhat brighter colours, and weaker wingbar.

On the ground it can be confused with the red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) but is more finely built and slightly smaller.

Little is known of its breeding habits but its breeding range includes the Chukchi Peninsula, the Koryak Plateau, the Commander Islands, the Kuril Islands, land bordering the Sea of Okhotsk, north Verkhoyansky District and around the Ob River and the Irtysh River.

After the breeding season it migrates southwards passing through China, Indochina, Malaysia and the Philippines and westwards to Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands.

It is a visitor to New Guinea and Australia and a vagrant to Sweden, South Africa, Melanesia, Hawaii, the northwestern USA and the vicinity of the Bering Sea.

In its over-wintering range it visits a variety of wetland habitats including shallow freshwater or brackish areas, lakes, swamps, floodplains, marshes, lagoons, muddy shores and sewage ponds.

[4] In its breeding range in Russia its habitat is tundra, taiga, open grassy bogs or swamps.