Wild Bird Wednesday 173 - Victorian Waders

Summer is wader time in SE Australia - huge numbers of waders migrate back to Australia from their breeding grounds in the Northern Hemisphere.  This movement of birds across the seasons messes with the the idea of 'summer' and 'winter' plumage as I understood it as a kid.  In reality, the birds are summer pretty much the whole year though - so calling the plumage 'breeding' and 'non-breeding' makes more sense.

It's always good to see birds here that have retained some breeding plumage as they come south, or produce some before they fly north.  At present there is a bit of excitement here as there is a Ruff in near breeding plumage on one of our local wetlands - although I have not been able to find it!

The birds this week are three of our most common waders - Red-Necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.  I was once told that the best way to start identifying waders with confidence in Victoria is to start with these 3 species - because they will be what you see most of the time.  And once you can identify these with a bit of confidence it becomes much easier to spot birds which are not from these species - I'm very far from being an expert, but I think this was good advice.

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper 

Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper

Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper 

Red-Necked Stint

Red-Necked Stint 

Red-Necked Stint

Red-Necked Stint

Red-Necked Stint

You will notice that none of these birds is showing so much as a hint of their breeding plumage - but they still look good!

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