Show us your shorebirds (waders)

[offshorebirder]

Wow - I had no idea AGP made it to Australia!

 

What other North American vagrants do y'all get?

 

I imagine Bristle-thighed Curlews overshoot and land in Australia from time to time.

[Geoff]

Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus)

 

A small wader from mainland Australia and southern New Guinea found in and around shallow, fresh or brackish water wetlands. A dapper looking species.

 

 

[Geoff]

Wow - I had no idea AGP made it to Australia!

 

What other North American vagrants do y'all get?

 

I imagine Bristle-thighed Curlews overshoot and land in Australia from time to time.

@@offshorebirder I had to do some research. I hope the below are North American. I left out a few that are definitely Eurasian.

 

American Golden Plover

 

Bristle-thighed Curlew - Not confirmed but at least one unverified report

 

Hudsonian Godwit

 

Short-billed Dowitcher

 

Long-billed Dowitcher - First confirmed sighting earlier this year and the bird was in full breeding plumage. The bird turned up on an inland lake about 4 hours drive from my place.

 

Lesser Yellowlegs

 

Stilt Sandpiper

 

White-rumped Sandpiper

 

Baird's Sandpiper

 

Dunlin

 

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

 

Grey Phalarope

 

Ringed Plover

 

Kentish Plover

[Geoff]

Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes)

Breeds in Siberia. In Australia it is found in areas with reefs, rocky platforms and intertidal mudflats around pretty much the whole coastline.

 

[offshorebirder]

 

Wow - I had no idea AGP made it to Australia!

 

What other North American vagrants do y'all get?

 

I imagine Bristle-thighed Curlews overshoot and land in Australia from time to time.

@@offshorebirder I had to do some research. I hope the below are North American. I left out a few that are definitely Eurasian.

 

American Golden Plover

 

Bristle-thighed Curlew - Not confirmed but at least one unverified report

 

Hudsonian Godwit

 

Short-billed Dowitcher

 

Long-billed Dowitcher - First confirmed sighting earlier this year and the bird was in full breeding plumage. The bird turned up on an inland lake about 4 hours drive from my place.

 

Lesser Yellowlegs

 

Stilt Sandpiper

 

White-rumped Sandpiper

 

Baird's Sandpiper

 

Dunlin

 

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

 

Grey Phalarope

 

Ringed Plover

 

Kentish Plover

 

 

Wow @@Geoff - thanks for taking the time to research the answer. I presume Grey Phalarope = Red Phalarope to North Americans.

 

I think Hudsonian Godwit may be the most amazingly off-course member of the list.

 

Ringed Plover and Kentish Plover are European birds but I am glad to learn that vagrants reach Australia.

 

Your information and photos of shorebirds in Australia has me wanting to visit even more than ever. Hopefully in the next few years but I have a couple more Africa trips and a Pantanal (Brazil) trip to do before that.

 

By the way - I will probably fall behind you soon in the shorebird photo posting department - I just can't hang with your superb output!

[kittykat23uk]

A record shot of an ibisbill in Sichaun China, a much sought after wader! I think @@Tom Kellie might like this one!

 

PB120468 Ibisbill by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

[Geoff]

great looking bird @@kittykat23uk

[Tom Kellie]

A record shot of an ibisbill in Sichaun China, a much sought after wader! I think @@Tom Kellie might like this one!

 

~ @@kittykat23uk

 

WOW!

That's the first photo of Ibidorhyncha struthersii I've ever seen!

Here it's depicted in field guides by artwork, rather than photos.

In the avian taxonomy class, it's been used on exams to see if students recognize it and realize that it's been placed in its own family. They're very good, so usually do know that.

I've certainly never observed, let alone photographed one.

Many, many BIG THANKS — 感谢! — for this Asian example of a wader to add to the plenitude of Australian and North American examples.

Tom K.

[kittykat23uk]

Thank you @@Geoff we saw a couple on our trip. The call is very distinctive which is how I picked up on our second bird.

[kittykat23uk]

Thanks @@Tom Kellie glad you like it too!

[Geoff]

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Ruddy Turnstones start arriving on my patch in November and hang around until March before taking their long perilous journey back to the arctic tundra.

bathing

in flight

[twaffle]

@@Geoff you have some spectacular avian photos, absolutely stunning.

[Geoff]

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

Another species that breeds in the arctic tundra and migrates to Australia & New Zealand as well as Africa & southern Asia.

I took these images in June so all of these birds were (perhaps 1st year birds) overwintering in Australia.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Geoff

 

I thought that this was the shorebird forum.

How did it become the ballet forum?

GREAT image with a supremely great pose!

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

Vanellus senegallus

Photographed at 4:12 pm on 7 February, 2014 in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.

ISO 100, 1/200 sec., f/2.8, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.

*****************************************************************************************************

One of the abiding memories of my 1st safari, in August, 2011, was the number of lapwings observed throughout Masai Mara.

On the 3rd safari this Vanellus sengallus, African Wattled Lapwing, accommodatingly posed for the camera lens, continuing the tradition of lapwing sightings.

[offshorebirder]

Very nice shot @@Tom Kellie. I am impressed that you can get hand-held images so sharp at 1/200 second exposure time.

[offshorebirder]

Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) in foreground and Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) in background. They were feeding in a drained impoundment (former ricefield) in coastal South Carolina.

 

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius):

 

 

Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) - Cat Island, South Carolina:

 

Solitary Sandpiper bathing:

 

[Tom Kellie]

Very nice shot @@Tom Kellie. I am impressed that you can get hand-held images so sharp at 1/200 second exposure time.

 

~ @@offshorebirder

 

Thank you!

My technique is to rigidly brace my elbows into myself prior to pressing the shutter.

I'm fairly tall — 191 cm. — with large hands, so the camera and lens combination isn't a burden.

The image stabilization feature of the lens is a great help, too.

The less clear images are discarded.

Lapwings are also cooperative subjects, as they tend to remain motionless for a time.

Tom K.

[Geoff]

Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva)

A beautiful migratory wader that breeds on the tundra of Siberia and Alaska. They arrive in my part of Australia in November and have leave late March - early April. I'd love to see this species in full breeding plumage.

[Geoff]

Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis)

A huge shorebird with a huge bill. They breed in Siberia, Mongolia & Manchuria then the major part of the population migrate to Australia. From my limited experience with this species I'd say they are extremely skittish. The females have the longer bills.

[Geoff]

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

A pretty, slender shorebird found in Southern Asia, New Zealand & Australia. They are quite common where I live.

in flight

most nests I see are on rafts of vegetation or muddy terrain

Edited June 6, 2015 by Geoff

[wilddog]

@@Geoff - in one word - Wow!

[marg]

@@Geoff ditto! your photos are just beautiful!!!

[offshorebirder]

Willet (Western Willet subspecies I believe) that was scolding me today:

 

 

 

 

 

Willet nest in progress (2 out of 4 eggs laid) from May 9:

 

Willet nest from June 7 last year:

 

Edited June 7, 2015 by offshorebirder

[offshorebirder]

Interesting Black-winged Stilt nest @@Geoff.

 

Here is a Black-necked Stilt nest I ran across today, as I was approaching a Wilson's Plover nest in an unusual location I was trying to document.