PLAINS-WANDERER

Female, photographed at night near Deniliquin, NSW February 2015

 517       PLAINS-WANDERER          Pedionomus torquatus

Australia         (358)

15-19 cm. Plains-wanderers are rare, its stronghold is in s. NSW, it is patchy in NSW/Q; s. NT; n., se. SA, n. Vic. Found in sparse, treeless, lightly grazed native grassland/herbfields with bare ground; old cereal crops; short lucerne; sparse saltbush, low shrubland. An amazing bird and has been placed in a family of its own with no living relatives. The female lays four eggs which are incubated by the male. Endangered.

Plainer and smaller male.

HORSFIELD'S BUSHLARK

Photographed at night, at Deniliquin NSW, February 2015

516       HORSFIELD'S BUSHLARK          Mirafra javanica

Australia         (357)

Also known as Australian Skylark, Singing Bushlark or Croplark.  12.5 -15 cm. Found in tropical, temperate grasslands, with rank cover; open woodlands/scrublands; cereal crops, lucerne, sparse sugar cane. Ranges across n. and e. Australian mainland, w. to Eyre Pen. (SA), s. and w. coast to c. Shark Bay(WA)

STUBBLE QUAIL

Photographed at night at Deniliquin, NSW, February 2015

515            STUBBLE QUAIL             Coturnix pectoralis

Australia             (356)

16-20 cm. Found in cereal crops and stubbles, lucerne; overgrown pastures and grasslands with thistles; saltbush, bluebush, spinifex; weedy margins of wetlands, irrigation channels, roadsides. Range e. and se Q, all NSW, Victoria and Tasmania; se. half SA. sw WA.

BROWN-HEADED HONEYEATER

Photographed at Deniliquin, February 2015

514           BROWN-HEADED HONEYEATER               Melithreptus brevirostris

Australia           (355)

11-14 cm. Found in rainforests, eucalypt forests, woodlands, swamp-woodlands, scrublands-mallee, belar; coastal teeter, banksia scrubs. Ranges southern WA, se. SA, al Victoria, most of NSW except ne corner and nw. corner from Broken Hill up; central and s. Q but not coast.

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT

Photographed at Deniliquin, February 2015

513         BLACK-TAILED GODWIT           Limosa limosa

Australia           (354)

36-43 cm. Ranges across most of Australian mainland except driest central WA, w. SA, sw NT and Tasmania. Found tidal mudflats, estuaries, sandspits, sewerage ponds, shallow river margins, inland on large shallow fresh or brackish waters.

AUSTRALIAN OWLET-NIGHTJAR

Photographed at Deniliquin, February 2015

512           AUSTRALIAN OWLET-NIGHTJAR            Aegotheles cristatus

Australia          (353)

Also known as Moth Owl. Roosts in tree-hollows by day, hunting for insects at night. Eyes do not glow in the dark like true nightjars. Ranges across all of Australia, including Tasmania. Habitat is varied butrainforests, eucalypt forests, woodlands, arid inland scrubs, trees on inland watercourses, billabongs.

Photographed at Nyngan, NSW March 2015

GLOSSY IBIS

Photographed at Deniliquin, February 2015

511         GLOSSY IBIS         Plegadis falcinellus

Australia           (352)

48-61 cm, wingspan c. 90 cm. Ranges over most of Australia, including Tasmania, except driest e. of SA, se. NT and se. and central e. of WA. Habitat well-vegetated wetlands, wet pastures, rice fields, floodwaters, floodplains, brackish or occasionally saline wetlands, mangroves, mudflats, occasionally dry grasslands.

STRIATED THORNBILL

510            STRIATED THORNBILL            Acanthiza lineata 

Australia           (352)

10 cm. Found in wetter eucalypt forest/woodlands to mallee; mangroves, parks, gardens. Range along coast inland to w. slopes from Biloela (Q) down and across to Adelaide, includes most of Victoria.

OSTRICH

Photographed on the Deniliquin-Barham Road February 2015.

509       OSTRICH            Struthio camelus

Australia          (351)

This looks like one from my South African list, but its not. Ostriches are now listed on the Australian list; it was introduced from Africa after 1896 and there are a few small feral populations which have become estblished. One of these in South Australian Younghusband Pen. and these near Deniliquin/Barham in NSW. 1.75-2.75 cm, largest of all living birds. Found on pastoral lands, open mulga, saltbush, bluebush, grassed sand plains and dunes.

Birdlife Australia ....... "For several decades, several generations of Ostriches has been free to roam on farmland alongside the Barham-Caldwell Road. They can be regarded as wild."

COMMON SANDPIPER

Photographed at Altona, Victoria February 2015

508           COMMON SANDPIPER           Actitis hypoleucos

Australia           (350)

19-22 cm. Breeds from British Isles to e. Siberia and n. Japan: winters s. Europe, Africa, India, s. and se. Asia to Indonesia, PNG, vagrant to NZ, regular, widespread but uncommon visitor to Australia; all Aust, except driest inland. Found in shallow, pebbly, muddy or sandy edges of rivers and streams, coastal to far inland; dams, lakes, sewerage farms, margins of tidal rivers, waterways in mangroves or salt marshes, mudflats, rocky or sandy beaches, causeways, riverside lawns, drains, street gutters.

PURPLE-CROWNED LORIKEET

Photographed near Serendip Sanctuary, Victoria Febrauary 2015; not a good picture but will replace with better eventually

507            PURPLE-CROWNED LORIKEET            Glossopsitta porphyrocephala

Australia          (348)

15-17 cm. Found in eucalyptus woodlands, drier forests on foothills, plains, roadside timber, shelter-belts, timbered watercourses, bush dams. Ranges across southern mainland, e. Victoria to s. WA, coastal to Geraldton; inland to s. riverina-mallee areas of sw. NSW; s. Flonders Ranges(SA); G. Vict. Desert-McKenzies-Payne’s Find (WA).

Next three photographs were taken along entry road to Eyre Bird Observatory, Western Australia, March 2015

EURASIAN TREE-SPARROW

Photographed in and around Serandip Sanctuary, Victoria, February 2015.

506           EURASIAN TREE-SPARROW          Passer montanus

  

Australia            (347)

Found in suburbs, rural towns, farm buildings/homesteads. 13-15 cm. Native to Eurasia, s. to Phiippines, e. Indonesia. Introduced to Australia from 1860s; established in Melbourne and towns from c. Dimboola (w. Vic) and Hay (NSW) north to Narromine-Gilgandra; east to Cowra-ACT-Albury.

FAIRY TERN

Photographed at Werribee Treatment Plant, February 2015

505           FAIRY TERN             Sterna nereis

Australia         (346)

21-25 cm, wingspan c. 50 cm. Found in coastal waters, bays, inlets, saline or bracken lakes, salt fields, sewerage ponds near coast. Predominantly an Australian species; ranges around coast of WA, SA, Vic and Tasmania, and pocket in Queensland on Tropic.