Birds Migrating to Australia

Flying Thousands of Kilometres to Come to Australia for the Summer

Australia is the chosen summer destination for a number of species of migrating birds with many of these coming south to feed while their home in the Arctic is frozen over during the Northern Hemisphere's winter.

About 35 or 36 species of waterbirds migrate to Australia on an annual basis involving approximately over 2 million birds and flights of up to 26,000 kilometres; mostly from Alaska and Siberia. Another 15 or 16 species visit occasionally.

Migratory waterbirds include species such as plovers, sandpipers, stints, curlews and snipes.

Bird Areas are shown in the bird lists as abbreviated; eg [CY]

• Arctic Tern

• Eastern Curlew [Russia and north-eastern China]

• Grey Plover

• Lesser Sand Plover [Siberia]

• Greater Sand Plover [Mongolia, north-western China and southern Siberia]

• Double Banded Plover

• Common Greenshank [Northern Hemisphere]

• Eurasian Whimbrel [Central Siberia to Iceland]

• Latham's Snipe

• Marsh Sandpiper [Europe and Siberia]

• Wood Sandpiper

• Curlew Sandpiper [Russia]

• Common Sandpiper [Russia]

• Sharp-tailed Sandpiper [Northern Siberia]

• Terek Sandpiper [Russia, Finland, Siberia and the Arctic tundra]

• Bar-tailed Godwit [Northern Siberia]

• Black-tailed Godwit

• Ruddy Turnstone [Eastern Siberia and western Alaska]

• Asian Dowitcher

• Short-tailed Shearwater

• Black-winged Stilt

• Peregrine Falcon [Northern Hemisphere]

• Cattle Egret

• Parasitic Jaeger

• Pied Oystercatcher

• Red-necked Stint [Siberia]

• Great Knot [Siberia and Russia]

• Red Knot [Siberia and Alaska]

• Sanderling [North America, Russia and the Arctic]

• Grey-tailed Tattler [Siberia]

• Little Curlew [Russia]

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