5 birds you’re likely to spot at Adelaide’s bird sanctuary

5 birds you’re likely to spot at Adelaide’s bird sanctuary



About 27,000 inter­na­tion­al fre­quent fly­ers set­tle in at Adelaide’s Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary each year between Octo­ber and April to feed and roost along Adelaide’s rich north­ern coastline.

The grey, brown and white theme of these migra­to­ry shore­birds may seem bor­ing to some. But these birds cov­er record-break­ing dis­tances annu­al­ly, they nav­i­gate instinc­tive­ly with the help of the earth­’s mag­net­ic field, and they know how to con­serve ener­gy by bulk­ing up and going on a feed­ing fren­zy known as hyperphagia.

Here are 5 pop­u­lar migra­to­ry shore­birds that vis­it the sanc­tu­ary, and where you’re like­ly to find them (just make sure you vis­it when they haven’t already depart­ed on their epic jour­neys to places as far away as Alas­ka and Siberia!):

1. Red knot

This lit­tle dude breeds in the high Arc­tic and then migrates south to Aus­tralia to chill in the heat. Red knots are speedy on foot, but you can spot them eat­ing day and night by the tide.

Sight­ings of the red knot have been record­ed at Light Beach and Thomp­son Beach.

5 birds you’re likely to spot at Adelaide’s bird sanctuary

2. Red-necked stint

This short-legged mot­tled-look­ing bird nests in the Siber­ian tun­dra, then migrates south, usu­al­ly stop­ping off at the Yel­low Sea, before con­tin­u­ing to Australia.

Sight­ings of the red-necked stint have been record­ed at Dry Creek and Thomp­son Beach.

5 birds you’re likely to spot at Adelaide’s bird sanctuary

3. Rud­dy turnstone

This tor­toise­shell-coloured shore­bird with orange legs breeds on the north­ern coasts of Europe, Asia and North Amer­i­ca and then migrates around the coast of Australia.

Sight­ings of the rud­dy turn­stone have been record­ed at Thomp­son Beach.

5 birds you’re likely to spot at Adelaide’s bird sanctuary

4. Grey plover

The grey plover, with its big beau­ti­ful eyes, nests in the Arc­tic where they are known as a black-bel­lied plover. It’s only the females who are reg­u­lar sum­mer migrants to Australia.

Sight­ings of the grey plover have been record­ed at Port Prime and Thomp­son Beach. If you’re inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about this bird’s annu­al jour­ney, read our post.

5 birds you’re likely to spot at Adelaide’s bird sanctuary

5. East­ern curlew

You’re right – this long-billed fel­la is not that com­mon. It’s actu­al­ly list­ed as crit­i­cal­ly endan­gered in Aus­tralia, but is well known to fre­quent Adelaide’s north­ern coast­line after breed­ing in Rus­sia and north-east­ern China.

Sight­ings of the East­ern curlew, who is the largest of all the world’s shore­birds, have been record­ed at Thomp­son Beach.

5 birds you’re likely to spot at Adelaide’s bird sanctuary

Main image: Red knot at Thomp­son Beach (image cour­tesy of Chris Steeles)

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in Novem­ber 2017.


This con­tent was pro­duced in part­ner­ship with  Good Living