INLAND DOTEREL

Photographed at Shoalhaven Heads, January 2017

967               INLAND DOTTEREL             Charadrius australis         

AUSTRALIA                        699

Found in stony, sparsely vegetated plains and uplands; gibber, stock routes, outback roads, bare pastures, crops, golf courses; occasionally ploughed land; seldom near water, but drinks at playpens, stock-tanks etc at dusk. 19-20 cm; wingspan 43-47 cm. Ranges across inland parts of all mainland states, mostly s. of Tropic, extending patchily to coast from se SA to c Exmouth Gulf, casual n to Dampier Arch (WA). Vagrant e coast and Gulf coast (NT). Nomadic: movement influenced by  plant-growth following rainfall.

NOTE: single vagrant bird found at Shoalhaven Heads (NSW) end of January 2017.

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER

Photographed at Lake Murdeduke, Victoria, January 2017

966                  BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER                    Tryngites subruficollis

AUSTRALIA                 698

Found in short grasslands, dry ground, margins of freshwater or saline wetlands; occasionally tidal mudflats. 18-21 cm. breeds in Arctic North America and far ne. Siberia; winters South America; vagrant Europe, Asia. Mostly summer vagrant se and s Aust and Tas, two WA.

WHITE-CHINNED PETREL

Photographed on Portland Pelagic, January 2017

965             WHITE-CHINNED PETREL                Procellaria aequinoctialis

AUSTRALIA           697

55 cm, wingspan c. 1.4 m. Breeds (Nov.-May) on sub-antarctic islands in NZ region and in s Indian and S Atlantic Oceans; huge circumpolar dispersal s to Antarctic pack-ice and n to 40-30 degrees South; offshore and sight records from se Q-ne NSW to Perth; most records from offshore e Vic, mostly May-July, and se Tas, March-April.

PACIFIC SWIFT

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

964              PACIFIC SWIFT                Apus pacificus

AUSTRALIA             (696)

Originally known as Forktailed Swift before being divided into four species; also known as White-rumped Swift. 16-19 cm, wingspan 38-43 cm. Found in the air over open country, from semi-desert to coasts, islands, sometimes over forests and cities. Breeds Siberia and Himalayas, e to Japan, se Asia.