WHITE TERN

Photographed on Norfolk Island January 2016

745            WHITE-TERN           Gygis alba

Australia          (588)

Also known as Love Tern and White Noddy. 30-33 cm, wingspan c. 76 cm. Found on oceanic islands; tropical and sub-tropical seas. Range: Norfolk, Lord Howe and Kermadec Is. Casual coastal e. Aust. from se Vic. to ne Q, summer-autumn-winter after storms. 

WANDERING TATTLER

Photographed on Norfolk Island January 2016

744            WANDERING TATTLER             Tringa incana

Australia          (587)

Found in specific habitat: prefers coral islands and cays of Great Barrier Reef; rocky reefs, islands and wave-washed rocks and rock platforms; occasionally to other tidal areas. 26-29 cm. Range: breeds ne Siberia, Alaska and n. Canada: migrates to e. Asia, C and S America and widely to islands in c. and sw Pacific, s. to NZ. Uncommon but probably regular summer migrant (Sept-Mar).

ROSE-CROWNED FRUIT-DOVE

Photographed at Samsonvale, Queensland January 2016

743          ROSE-CROWNED FRUIT-DOVE              Ptilinopus regina

Australia          (586)

Also known as Red-crowned Fruit-dove, Fruit-pigeon or Pigeon. 20-25 cm.Found in rainforests, vine scrubs; adjacent eucalypt forests woodlands; swamp woodlands, mangroves, berry or fruit-bearing trees in farms, gardens, public and private. Range: coastal nw., n. and e. Aust. and coastal islands, from c. Broome (WA) to Arnham Land, e to Pellet Group (NT), and from Torres Strait islands and C. York Pen (Q) s. to c. Hunter R (NSW); casual s. coast NSW, s Vic. and Tas. Fairly common and migratory. Dispersive and nomadic.

RUSSET-TAILED THRUSH

Photographed at Mary Cairncross Nature Reserve, Queensland January 2016

742              RUSSET-TAILED THRUSH           Zoothera heini

Australia          (585)

25-27 cm. Range: mountain rainforests, wetter woodlands in coastal e. Aust., from Hawkesbury R. (NSW) to highlands of ne. Q., to n. of Cairns. In ne NSW, occurs on GT. Dividing Range up to c. 775 m. Sedentary; autumn movements to coastal lowlands in n. NSW-se Q.

HUDSONIAN GODWIT

Photographed at Lake Wollumboula, NSW December 2015

741                  HUDSONIAN GODWIT            Limosa haemastica

Australia            (584)

Found in tidal mudflats and estuaries; waterways in mangroves; salt marshes, freshwater wetlands. 37-42 cm. Range: breeds Alaska to Hudson Bay, Canada; winters in far s. S. America; some reach Nz almost annually. In Aust. summer vagrant to coastal mudflats (NSW, Vic, Tas, SA)

PARADISE SHELDUCK

Photographed at Lake Wollumboula, NSW December 2015

740             PARADISE SHELDUCK              Tadorna variegata

Australia          (583)

The Paradise Shelduck is endemic to New Zealand and this one seen at Lake Wollumboula (near Nowra) NSW is the first record of one appearing in Australia. They are prize game birds and were hunted in New Zealand outside the breeding season, when the birds can not fly.

SOOTY OWL

Photographed at Bunyip State Forrest, Victoria December 2015

739              SOOTY OWL           Tyto tenebricosa

Australia          (582)

Found in tall, wet forrest in sheltered e. and se.-facing mountain gullies, with dense understory layer. 38-50 cm, female larger. Range: coastal e. Australia: mostly on and e. of Divide from Dandenong Ras., e. of MelbourneKinglake NP (Vic), to Connondale Ra. (se Q.). Until recently this and the Lesser Sooty were amongst our lesser known birds.

SONG THRUSH

Photographed at West Sunshine, Victoria December 2015

738          SONG THRUSH           Turdus philomelos

Australia          (581)

Also known as English Thrush. 23 cm. Found in parks, gardens, woodlands, forrest, thickets. Range: native to Europe, n. Africa, w. Asia; introduced to Melbourne 1860s; Patchy Dandenong Ras.-Mt Macedon, Melbourne and suburbs, Mornington Pen; Geelong-Lorne. Local. Also introduced Lord Howe and Norfolk Is., NZ.

Taken Norfolk Island January 2016

ASIATIC GULL-BILLED TERN

Photographed at Stockyard Point, Victoria December 2015

737           ASIATIC GULL-BILLED TERN            Sterna affinis

Australia           (580)

This is currently a sub-species of the Gull-billed Tern. It is a vagrant to Australia, being a non-breeding summer migrant (Sept.-April) from Asia to n and e coast, s. to Hunter R. (NSW). It is smaller, greyer, short-legged; usually in non-breeding plumage.

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.