EASTERN CURLEW

416          EASTERN CURLEW           Numenius madagascariensis

Australia         (290)

Also known as Australian, Far Eastern and Sea Curlew. 60-65 cm. Range: breeds ne Asia, summer visitor to coasts of Australia, including Tasmania, seldom inland. Found in estuaries, tidal mudflats, sand spits, salt marshes, mangroves, and sometimes fresh or brackish lakes, bare grassland, near water.

MARSH SANDPIPER

Photographed Lake Cargelligo, NSW, November 2014

415           MARSH SANDPIPER            Tringa stagnatilis

Australia        (289)

Also known as Little Greenshanks. Found in salt, brackish or freshwater wetlands, sewerage ponds, commercial salt fields, bore drains, tidal mudflats, mangroves, estuaries. Breeds Austria to Northern Mongolia, migrates to Africa, India, se Asia, Indonesia, NZ, regular summer visitor to all Australia, mostly coastal but found inland e. half of Australia. 

Photographed Lake Cargellico, November 2014.

Photographed Lake Tutchewop, Victoria, November 2014

CURLEW SANDPIPER

Photographed Lake Tutchewop, Victoria, November 2014

414         CURLEW SANDPIPER            Calidris ferruginea

Australia          (288)

20-22 cm. Found on tidal mudflats, salt marsh, saltfields, brackish or saline wetlands, sewerage ponds. Breeds ne Siberia, migrates to Africa, s and se Asia, Indonesia, NZ, PNG and widespread to Australia, mainly coastal but many inland, all of Australia except driest inland central e WA.

WHITE-WINGED FAIRY-WREN

413        WHITE-WINGED FAIRY-WREN            Malurus leucopterus

Australia            (287)

Also known as Black-and-white Fairy-wren, Blue-and-white Fairy-wren, White-backed Fairy-wren. The male has either blue or black body. 11.5-13 cm. Found in low heath, scrub, saltbush, tall grasses, low dense shrubs, tangled clumps on open, often treeless arid wastes, saltbush, holy-poly, spinifex, margins of salt lakes. Range across central Australia but not around edges from Broome, across northland down east, around to Adelaide. 

Photographed at Deniliquin, NSW February 2015

BAILLON'S CRAKE

Photographed at Fiveborough Swamp, Leeton, November 2014

412           BAILLON'S CRAKE              Porzana pusilla

Australia           (286)

Range: all of tasmania and mainland Australia except driest se and e WA, w half of SA and bottom 2/3 NT. Found in vegetated freshwater wetlands, waterside trees and shrubs. 15-16 cm.

BLACK-TAILED NATIVE HEN

Photographed at Fiveborough Swamp, Leeton, November 2014

411          BLACK-TAILED NATIVE-HEN            Gallinula ventralis

Australia              (285)

Also known as Barcoo Bantam. 30-36 cm. habitat includes open margins of wetland, lakes, rivers, wet claypans, especially in lignum; open woodland; pastures, oops and gardens. Range is most of Australian mainland except across the north, down the east coast of NSW and Victoria, and the dry se of WA,w of SA, sw of NT.

LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER

Photographed at Lake Tutchewop, Victoria, November 2014.

410         LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER               Limnodromus scolopaceus

Australia              (284)

Breeds in wet tundra far north of North America and eastern Siberia; migrate to southern United States and as far as Central America, also a rare visitor to western Europe, thought possible individuals could reach Australia. 26-30 cm. Habitat shallow, muddy freshwater pools, with grass or marginal vegetation. Probably rarest bird in Australia at present as only known individual.

WHISKERED TERN

409       WHISKERED TERN           Chlidonias hybrida

Australia          (283)

Largest marsh tern, 25-27 cm, wingspan 70 cm. Found in vegetated and open wetland; brackish, saline lakes; saltfields, irrigated land, sewerage ponds. Range most of mainland Australia except driest areas of WA/SA/NT.

FRECKLED DUCK

Photographed at Forbes, NSW, October 2014

408          FRECKLED DUCK          Stictonetta naevosa

Australia          (282)

Also known as Monkey Duck. 48-59 cm. Found in large well-vegetated swamps, in dry periods moves to open lakes. Ranges across sw WA and se quarter of mainland Australia. Rare, irruptive, nomadic.

Female, photographed near Werribee, Victoria February 2015

WHISTLING KITE

407             WHISTLING KITE                 Haliastur sphenurus

Australia              (281)

Also incorrectly called the Whistling Eagle. Ranges over most of Australia, except the driest inland of WA and SA. Found in open forests, foothills, usually near water, timbered watercourses, lakes, tidal inlets, swamps and mudflats. 50-60 cm, wingspan 1.2 m.

BANDED STILT

406           BANDED STILT              Cladorhynchus leucocephalus

Australia          (280)

Nomadic but endemic to Australia. 36-45 cm. Found in shallow salt lakes, salt marshes, claypans, tidal mudflats, commercial salt fields, occasionally flooded claypans, shallow freshwater lakes. Usually in a flock, may be thousands. Range se WA up to Shoal Bay, bottom se of NT, e 2/3 of SA, w of NSW and w 3/4 of Vic.

COMMON KOEL

Photographed in Bendigo,  November 2014

405         PACIFIC KOEL           Eudynamys orientalis

Australia          (279)

Also known as Eastern Koel, and colloquially as railbird or stormbird. A large cuckoo, well-known for its distinctive mournful call. Found in leafy, fruiting trees on fringes of rainforests, woodlands, streams; farmlands, parks, streets. Range: winters in PNG-Indonesia, breeds in n. and e. Aust. from Kimberley to s. coast NSW, occasionally e. Vict and s. WA; ranges to India and China. The one pictured is on edge of its range at Bendigo, one of two or three males in the town.