AUSTRALIAN PAINTED SNIPE

Photographed at Lakes Road, Lake George, near Bungendong, NSW, February 2017

968                    AUSTRALIAN PAINTED SNIPE                  Rostratula benghalensis

AUSTRALIA              700

Found in well-vegetated shallows and margins of wetlands, dams, sewerage ponds; wet pastures, marshy areas, irrigation systems, lignum, tee-tree scrub, open timber. 22-30 cm, female bigger. Range mostly se Aust., s of Brisbane-Adelaide; scarce, erratic over much of inland., n. Q, Nt, and coastal WA; vagrant Tas., Rare. Dispersive or irruptive in response to rainfall, possibly part migratory, moving n into Q. in summer.

The female is the more brightly coloured one on the left.

INLAND DOTEREL

Photographed at Shoalhaven Heads, January 2017

967               INLAND DOTTEREL             Charadrius australis         

AUSTRALIA                        699

Found in stony, sparsely vegetated plains and uplands; gibber, stock routes, outback roads, bare pastures, crops, golf courses; occasionally ploughed land; seldom near water, but drinks at playpens, stock-tanks etc at dusk. 19-20 cm; wingspan 43-47 cm. Ranges across inland parts of all mainland states, mostly s. of Tropic, extending patchily to coast from se SA to c Exmouth Gulf, casual n to Dampier Arch (WA). Vagrant e coast and Gulf coast (NT). Nomadic: movement influenced by  plant-growth following rainfall.

NOTE: single vagrant bird found at Shoalhaven Heads (NSW) end of January 2017.

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER

Photographed at Lake Murdeduke, Victoria, January 2017

966                  BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER                    Tryngites subruficollis

AUSTRALIA                 698

Found in short grasslands, dry ground, margins of freshwater or saline wetlands; occasionally tidal mudflats. 18-21 cm. breeds in Arctic North America and far ne. Siberia; winters South America; vagrant Europe, Asia. Mostly summer vagrant se and s Aust and Tas, two WA.

WHITE-CHINNED PETREL

Photographed on Portland Pelagic, January 2017

965             WHITE-CHINNED PETREL                Procellaria aequinoctialis

AUSTRALIA           697

55 cm, wingspan c. 1.4 m. Breeds (Nov.-May) on sub-antarctic islands in NZ region and in s Indian and S Atlantic Oceans; huge circumpolar dispersal s to Antarctic pack-ice and n to 40-30 degrees South; offshore and sight records from se Q-ne NSW to Perth; most records from offshore e Vic, mostly May-July, and se Tas, March-April.

PACIFIC SWIFT

Photographed on Christmas Island, December 2016

964              PACIFIC SWIFT                Apus pacificus

AUSTRALIA             (696)

Originally known as Forktailed Swift before being divided into four species; also known as White-rumped Swift. 16-19 cm, wingspan 38-43 cm. Found in the air over open country, from semi-desert to coasts, islands, sometimes over forests and cities. Breeds Siberia and Himalayas, e to Japan, se Asia.

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.