COX'S SANDPIPER

Photographed at Werribee treatment Plant, Victoria December 2015

736              COX'S SANDPIPER           calidris paramelanotos

Australia          (579)

Only described in the last twenty years. It is a natural hybrid between Curlew Sandpiper and Pectoral Sandpiper. c. 19 cm. Found on the muddy edges of wetlands, fresh, brackish and saline, coastal and inland; sewerage ponds, salt farms, tidal mudflats. Summer migrant to mostly se. Just., from unknown breeding grounds, possibly e. Siberia. Specimens from SA, sight records from Q., Vic., NSW, Tas., and WA.

(at the rear)

COMMON SKYLARK

Photographed at the Werribee Treatment Plant, Victoria December 2015

735           COMMON SKYLARK          Alauda arvensis

Australia        (578)

Also known as the English Skylark. 17-19 cm. Found in cultivated grassland/crops; wastelands, coastal dunes. Range: se Aust.: introduced from Britain in 1850s; ranges from Yorke Pen. (SA) to Hunter Valley (NSW), inland to c. Macquarie Marshes. Common Tas., Vic., s SA, NSW Riverina. Nomadic, part-migratory.

WHITE-HEADED PETREL

Photographed on Port Fairy Pelagic trip, December 2015

734              WHITE-HEADED PETREL         Pterodroma lessonii

Australia        (577)

40-46 cm; wingspan c. 1 m. Breeds Crozets and kergulen Is. (s. Indian Ocean); Auckland, Antipodes and Macquarie Is. (NZ region). Wide circumpolar dispersal n to c. 30 degrees S. Uncommon winter visitor to offshore waters of s. Aust, n to c. NW Cape (WA) and se Q. Migratory and dispersive.

FAIRY PRION

Photographed on the Port Fairy Pelagic trip, December 2015

733                FAIRY PRION           Pachyptila turtur

Australia           (576)

The smallest of the prions, 23-28 cm; wingspan c. 56 cm. Breeds in coastal NZ and many islands; also s. Indian and s. Atlantic Oceans. Breeds islands around Tasmania; in Bass Strait off Wilson's Prom., w. to Lady Julia Percy Island and Lawrence Rocks (w. Vic). Common offshore se Aust. w. to Eyre Pen. (SA) and n. to c. Q. where less common,; rarest in s. WA. Present through Bass Strait and Tas. most months, with a winter peak. Gales drive many ashore.

Photographed on Kiama Pelagic, June 2016