RED-CAPPED PLOVER

Photographed on Comerong Island, NSW southern coast.

304         RED-CAPPED PLOVER               Charadrius ruficapillus

Australia          (270)

Also known as Red-capped Dotterel, Sandlark or Sandpiper. 14-16 cm. Range all over Australia and Tasmania. Found on broad sandy and shelly beaches, margins of saline wetlands and lakes, salt marshes, tidal mudflats and sandblast, adjacent dunes and shallow freshwater wetlands.

WHITE-BACKED VULTURE

Photographed at the 'Vulture Restaurant' at Mkhuze Game Reserve.

303        WHITE-BACKED VULTURE             Gyps africanus

South Africa             (26)

90-100 cm, wingspan 2.1-2.3 m; 4.6-6.6 kg. The most common vulture in savannah. Found in savannahs, open woodland, nesting and roosting on trees. Range all over northern part of southern Africa. 

Photographed at iMfolozi

FORK-TAILED DRONGO

302             FORK-TAILED DRONGO            Dicrurus adsimilis

South Africa             (25)

23-26 cm, 38-55 g. Range across top half of southern Africa, and along southern and eastern coast. Found in woodland, savannahs and plantations. Usually found singly or in pairs but many will be attracted to a fire. It also harasses other birds, and sometimes mammals to steal their food, mimicking alarm calls to make them drop it.

VILLAGE WEAVER

301          VILLAGE WEAVER           Ploceus cucllatus

South Africa         (24)

16 cm, 30-46 gm. Range along eastern side of southern Africa. Found in savanna, fields and gardens, often in large flocks, breeds in large, multiple-male colonies in reeds or tall trees. Builds large, coarsely woven nest with short entrance tube. Polygymous.

CAPE WEAVER

Photographed in Zululand, South Africa.

300          CAPE WEAVER        Ploceus capensis

South Africa         (23)

17 cm, 28-54 g. Found in grasslands, scrub and gardens. Breeds in colonies in reeds or tall trees. Ranges across southern tip of Africa.

ROSE ROBIN

299         ROSE ROBIN           Petroica rosea

Australia             (269)

11.-12.5 cm. Found in ferntree, beech and other dense, mosist gullies, wetter eucalypt forest/rainforest. Range Adelaide around coast to Carnavon Range in Queensland.

Photographed at Toolangim State Forest, Victoria November 2015

AUSTRALIAN HOBBY

Photographed at Gilgandra, NSW

298             AUSTRALIAN HOBBY            Falco longipennis

Australia             (268)

Also known as Little Falcon. 30-35 cm, wingspan to 90 cm, female larger. Range all over Australia. Found in open woodlands, grasslands with trees, environs of wetlands, lakes, rivers, timbered watercourses, city parks and well-treed suburbs.

BLACK-FACED WOODSWALLOW

297         BLACK-FACED WOODSWALLOW            Artamus cinereus

Australia         (267)

17.5-20 cm. Range over most of mainland Australia except tip Cape York, e. coast from Tropic of Capricorn s. to Adelaide, and SW corner of WA. Found open country, gibber, spinifex, sandhills, saltbush, wetlands and irrigation areas.

WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER

296        WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER           Climacteris affinis

Australia          (266)

14-15 cm. Found in semi-arid, arid inland scrub, stands of belar in mallee, mulga, native pine, black box and saltbush. Range southern inland mainland from upper Gascoyne River (WA) to Cobar/Bourke (NSW).

GRACEFUL HONEYEATER

295          GRACEFUL HONEYEATER              Meliphaga gracilis

Australia         (265)

14-16.5 cm. Smallest of the three 'Meliphaga'. Found in rainforests, vine scrub, eucalypt woodlands, coastal scrubs, lantana, orchards and gardens. Range ne. Queensland, Ingham up to tip Cape York.

BUFF-RUMPED THORNBILL

294          BUFF-RUMPED THORNBILL           Acanthiza reguloides

Australia             (264)

Also known as Bark or Buff-rumped Tit, or Varied Thornbill. Range s. and se. mainland, from Atherton in the n., through most of NSW except nw, all of Vict., and across to Adelaide. Found in open stringy bark forest, woodland, scrub and golf courses. 11 cm.

YELLOW THORNBILL

293        YELLOW THORNBILL              Acanthiza nana

Australia            (263)

Also known as Little Thornbill. Range across e. and se. mainland Australia, from Mackay, Atherton Tablelands, to Cunnamulla, in NSW west as far as Cobar/Ivanhoe, all of Vict, and in SA w. to Goolwa and n. to Flinder's Ranges. Found in drier woodlands, coastal and inland scrub, riverine forests, mangroves, orchards, parks and gardens. 10 cm.

WHITE-THROATED TREECREEPER

292           WHITE-THROATED TREECREEPER              Cormobates leucophaeus

Australia          (262)

Also known as Little Treecreeper or Woodpecker. 16-17.5 cm. Range down eastern mainland Australia from Mackay to SA border, and around Adelaide. Found in rainforests, wetter eucalypt forests, woodlands, coastal teeters, ravine forests, mallee and brigalow.

YELLOW ORIOLE

Photographed in Ingham, Queensland.

291            YELLOW ORIOLE                Oriolus flavocinctus

Australia           (261)

26-30 cm. Range across n. Aust. from w. Kimberley to Top End, and in Q. from Cape York Peninsular down to Ingham. Found in Rainforests, dense vegetation on watercourses, woodlands, paperbarks, mangroves, plantations, orchards and gardens.

JACKY WINTER

 290              JACKY WINTER             Microeca fascinans

Australia      (260)

Also known as Brown Flycatcher, Peter Peter and Stumpbird. 12-14 cm. Range across mainland Australia except driest desert, patchy in settled areas. Found in open woodlands, scrublands, paddocks with live/dead trees, stumps, fences, watercourses and roadsides.

EASTERN REEF EGRET (dark morph)

289        EASTERN REEF EGRET (dark morph)           Egret sacra

Australia          (259)

60-70 cm, span 90 cm-1 m. Range around coastline of mainland Australia except in the Bight and Victoria. Found on coasts and islands, rocky shores, coral reefs, tidal rivers and inlets.

LESSER FRIGATEBIRD

Photographed above Captain Billy's Landing, Cape York.

288             LESSER FRIGATEBIRD            Fregata ariel

Australia       (258)

Also known as Man-o'-war Bird. Range: breeds islands and cays off tropical n. Australia;regular summer/autumn visitor to coastal n. Australia, s. to se. Queensland, n. NSW, off n. WA coast. Found in tropical and subtropical seas, coasts and islands. 70-82 cm, wingspan 1.8-1.9 m, female larger.

LITTLE TERN

287                LITTLE TERN              Sterna albifrons

Australia         (257)

21-24 cm, span c. 50 cm. Range around the coast of the mainland from Shark Bay (WA) north to Adelaide (SA) and along n. and e. coast of Tasmania. Found in coastal waters, bays, inlets, beaches, sand dunes, lakes and salt lakes. Summer migrants

BROWN GERYGONG

286           BROWN GERYGONG               Gerrygone mouki

Australia          (256)

Also known as the Brown Wabler. 9-11 cm. Range along eastern coast from Sale (Vic) to Cooktown (Q). Found in wet coastal/mountain rainforest, vegetated gullies and mangroves.