SLENDER-BILLED THORNBILL

Photographed near the Nullarbor Roadhouse, SA,  December 2016

963             SLENDER-BILLED THORNBILL           Acanthiza iredalei

AUSTRALIA             695

Also called Dark or Samphire Hornbill. Found in low dense saltbush, bluebush, cotton bush, samphire on salt lakes, salt marshes, low banksia, tea-tree, casuarina scrubs, sandman heaths, mulga, other acacia, mangroves. 9-10 cm. Three subspecies: iredalei subspecies has six separate and isolated populations in Western Australia, and a large population in the Carnarvon bioregion; hedleyi subspecies ranges across eastern Australia; rosinae subspecies can be found in southern Australia.

NARETHA BLUEBONNET

Photographed at Naretha, WA, December 2016

962                NARETHA BLUEBONNET                 Northiella narethae 

AUSTRALIA             694

Found in blah, Casuarina cristata, with acacias; low eucalyptus. 28 cm. Range: southeastern Western Australia to southwest South Australia.

CORNCRAKE

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

961                    CORNCRAKE               Crex crex

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)               693

Also known as Landrail. Found in hayfields, crops, water meadows. 25-27 cm. Range: from Europe to w Siberia, migrating to Africa and sw Asia; vagrant to Aust.: Randwick, NSW, 1893, and on a ship off Jurien Bay (WA) 1944.

NOTE: The only photographs ever taken of a Corncrake in Australia.

MALAYSIAN NIGHT HERON

960               MALAYSIAN NIGHT HERON              Gorsachius melanolophus

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)             692

Also known as Malayan Night Heron or Tiger Bittern. 48 cm; wingspan 86 cm. Found in forests, streams, and marshes.  Range: India, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan; vagrant in Christmas Island and Palau.

Christmas Island, January 2023

JAPANESE SPARROWHAWK

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

(see 879)              JAPANESE SPARROWHAWK            Accipiter gularis       

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)               691

Bird of open and wooded areas. 23-30 cm. Breed in China, Japan, Korea and Siberia; winters in Indonesia and Philippines, passing through the rest of South-east Asia.

ASIAN KOEL

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

(see  882)                   ASIAN KOEL               Eudynamys scolopaceus

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)              690

Range: Indian subcontinent, China and Southeast Asia. 39-46 cm. Found in light woodland and cultivation; migratory. Several subspecies.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND BOOBOOK

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

959                CHRISTMAS ISLAND BOOBOOK               Ninox natalis

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)           689

Also known as Christmas Island Hawk-owl, Christmas Hawk-owl, Christmas Boobook. Found in subtropical and tropical lowland forest; subtropical or tropical moist scrubland. 26-29 cm, female slightly larger than the male. Endemic to Christmas Island.

COMMON SWIFT

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

958                COMMON SWIFT                   Apus apus

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)                688

16-17 cm; 38-40 wingspan.  Migratory; breed from Spain and Ireland in west across to China and Siberia in the east, as far south as North Africa, the Middle East, the Near East across Turkey, the whole of Europe and most of sub-attic Russia; migrate to Equatorial and Sub-Equatorial Africa.

NOTE: This is the first ever record and photograph of the Common Swift in Australia.

COMMON EMERALD DOVE

Photographed on Christmas Island

957                  COMMON EMERALD DOVE                    Chalcophaps indica    

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)               687

Also called Asian Emerald Dove, Grey-capped Emerald Dove, Green Dove and Green-winged Pigeon. Found in rainforest and similar dense woodlands, farms, gardens, mangroves and coastal heaths. 23- 28 cm. Widespread resident in tropical and subtropical parts of Indian Subcontinent and east through Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Sakishma Islands (Japan), and Indonesia.

JAVA SPARROW

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

956                JAVA SPARROW                 Lonchura oryzivora

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)                686

Also known as Java Finch, Java Rice Sparrow, Java Rice Bird. Found in grassland and cultivation, especially rice fields. 15-17 cm. Resident in Java, Bali and Bawean; popular cage and aviary bird introduced into many countries; introduced into Christmas Island.

GREY WAGTAIL

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

(see  313)              GREY WAGTAIL                   Motacilla cinerea

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)             685

In Australia found near running water in disused quarries, sandy, rocky streams in escarpments and rainforests, sewerage ponds, ploughed fields, airfields. 18-19 cm. Breeds from w Europe to Asia; migrates to Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and NG.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND THRUSH

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

955              CHRISTMAS ISLAND THRUSH            Turdus poliocephalus erythropleurus

AUSTRALIA (Christmas Island)            684

Also known as Christmas Thrush. Subspecies of Island Thrush. Endemic to Christmas Island.21 cm; 34 cm wingspan. Found in most habitat on the island, including rainforest and gardens; less common in Pandanus, dense regrowth and post-mining wasteland.