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Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area
The Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area is a 103 km2 tract of originally intertidal land, now containing a saltern, lying about 20 km east of the port of Port Hedland on the coast of the Pilbara region of north-west Western Australia. The salt processing facility is operated by Dampier Salt Ltd, part of the Rio Tinto Group. Description The Important Bird Area (IBA) comprises a system of evaporation ponds, the intake zone where seawater enters, and the adjacent intertidal mudflats. The system includes levee banks and scattered mangroves. During low tides, waterbirds forage on the mudflats and along nearby creeks. During high tides, they move to the saltworks to continue feeding or to roost.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Port Hedland Saltworks. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 22/09/2011. Port Hedland Saltworks The Port Hedland Saltworks was purchased by Dampier Salt in 2001 and covers an operational area of about 91 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calidris Acuminata P4278959
''Calidris'' is a genus of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds in the family Scolopacidae. These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged and relatively short-billed. Their bills have sensitive tips which contain numerous corpuscles of Herbst. This enables the birds to locate buried prey items, which they typically seek with restless running and probing. Taxonomy The genus ''Calidris'' was introduced in 1804 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem with the red knot as the type species. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The genus contain 24 species: * Great knot, ''Calidris tenuirostris'' * Red knot, ''Calidris canutus'' * Surfbird, ''Calidris virgata'' * Ruff, ''Calidris pugnax'' * Broad-billed sandpiper, ''Calidris falcinellus'' * Sharp-tailed sandpiper, ''Calidris a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dusky Gerygone
The dusky gerygone (''Gerygone tenebrosa'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to coastal central and northern areas of Western Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...s. References dusky gerygone Endemic birds of Western Australia dusky gerygone Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Acanthizidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Painted Finch
The painted finch (''Emblema pictum'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in Australia. The painted finch acquired its name due to the red and white spotted and mottled underparts of both males and females. The binomial comes from emblema meaning 'mosaic or inlaid work'; and ''pictum'' derives from the Latin word ''pictus'', meaning 'painted' (from pingere, 'to paint'). Other names include Emblema finch, mountain finch, painted firetail and Emblema. The painted finch is a popular bird to be kept in captivity and in backyard aviaries. Taxonomy The painted finch is within the genus ''Emblema'' which early studies placed four species inside of. More recent research has since determined that this genus did not form a natural assemblage and three of the four species were segregated into the genus ''Stagonopleura''. The species include ''S. bella'' (Beautiful firetail), ''S. oculata'' (Red-eared firetail) and ''S. guttata'' (Diamond firetail). This species, ''Emblema pictum, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Bowerbird
The western bowerbird (''Chlamydera guttata'') is a species of bird in the family Ptilonorhynchidae. The species is a common endemic of Australia. It has a disjunct distribution, occurring in Central Australia and the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Taxonomy There are two subspecies, the nominate ''Chlamydera guttata guttata'', which occupies most of its range, and ''C. guttata cateri'', which occurs only the North West Cape in Western Australia. The species was first collected in 1861 by the explorer Francis Gregory, who gave the specimen to John Gould. The specific name ''guttata'' means spotted, referring to its plumage. The species is similar to '' Chlamydera maculata'', the spotted bowerbird, and has often been treated as a subspecies of it. Description The western bowerbird is smaller than the other bowerbird it shares its range with, the great bowerbird. It measures between 24–28 cm in length and weighs between 120-150 g. Both sexes are similar in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bush Stone-curlew
The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee, also known as the Iben bird (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, where it stalks slowly at night in search of invertebrates such as insects. Its grey-brown coloration is distinguished by dark streaks, its eyes are large and legs are long. It is capable of flight, but relies on the camouflage of its plumage to evade detection during the day; the bush curlew adopts a rigid posture when it becomes aware of an observer. Both sexes care for two eggs laid on the bare ground, usually sited near bush in a shaded position or next to a fallen branch. Taxonomy The bush stone-curlew was first described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name ''Charadius grallarius''. Latham published three names simultaneously; however, the seniority of ''C. grallarius'' follows the publication of the nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Bustard
The Australian bustard (''Ardeotis australis'') is a large ground dwelling bird which is common in grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It stands at about high, and its wingspan is around twice that length. The species is nomadic, flying to areas when food becomes plentiful, and capable of travelling long distances. They were once widespread and common to the open plains of Australia, but became rare in regions that were populated by Europeans during the colonisation of Australia. The bustard is omnivorous, mostly consuming the fruit or seed of plants, but also eating invertebrates such as crickets, grasshoppers, smaller mammals, birds and reptiles. The species is also commonly referred to as the plains turkey, and in Central Australia as the bush turkey, particularly by Aboriginal people, who hunt it, although the latter name may also be used for the Australian brushturkey, as well as the orange-footed scrubfow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-winged Black Tern
The white-winged tern, or white-winged black tern (''Chlidonias leucopterus'' or ''Chlidonias leucoptera''), is a species of tern in the family Laridae. It is a small species generally found in or near bodies of fresh water across much of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''khelidonios'', "swallow-like", from ''khelidon'', "swallow". The name 'white-winged tern' is the standard in most English-speaking countries; in the United Kingdom, this name is also the one used by the formal ornithological recording authorities, but the older alternative 'white-winged black tern' is still frequent in popular use. Description Adult birds in summer have short red legs and a short black bill (small and stubby, measuring 22–25 mm from the feathers, decidedly shorter than the head), a black neck (often with a pale gray back) and belly, very dark grey back, with a white rump and light grey (almost white) tail, which often looks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oriental Pratincole
The oriental pratincole (''Glareola maldivarum''), also known as the grasshopper-bird or swallow-plover, is a wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae. Etymology The genus name is a diminutive of Latin ''glarea'', "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat for pratincoles. The species name ''maldivarum'' refers to the type locality, the ocean near the Maldive Islands; the type specimen, caught alive at sea, survived for a month on flies. Description These birds have short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails. They have short bills, which is an adaptation to aerial feeding. The back and head are brown, and the wings are brown with black flight feathers. The belly is white. The underwings are chestnut. Very good views are needed to distinguish this species from other pratincoles, such as the very similar collared pratincole, which also has a chestnut underwing, and black-winged pratincole which shares the black upperwing flight feathers and lack of a white traili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oriental Plover
The oriental plover (''Charadrius veredus''), also known as the oriental dotterel, is a medium-sized plover closely related to the Caspian plover. It breeds in parts of Mongolia and China, Bird migration, migrating southwards each year to spend its non-breeding season in Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia. Description Adult male in breeding plumage: white face, throat and fore-crown; grey-brown hind-crown, hind-neck and back; belly white, demarcated with narrow black band and then broad chestnut breast band merging into white throat. Female, juvenile and non-breeding male: generally grey-brown upperparts and white belly; pale face with white streak above eye. Measurements: length 21–25 cm; wingspan 46–53 cm; weight 95 g. Among the red-breasted Charadrius plovers, this bird is relatively large, long-legged and long-winged. Distribution and habitat Breeds in Mongolia, eastern Russia and Manchuria; Bird migration, migrates through eastern China and Sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banded Stilt
The banded stilt (''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus'') is a nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Cladorhynchus''. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults, though this is mottled or entirely absent in non-breeding adults and juveniles. Its remaining plumage is pied and the eyes are dark brown. Nestling banded stilts have white down, unlike any other species of wader. Breeding is triggered by the filling of inland salt lakes by rainfall, creating large shallow lakes rich in tiny shrimp on which the birds feed. Banded stilts migrate to these lakes in large numbers and assemble in large breeding colonies. The female lays three to four brown- or black-splotched whitish eggs on a scrape. If conditions are favourable, a second brood might be laid, though if the lakes dry up prematurely the breeding colonies may be abandoned. The banded stilt is considered to be a specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-necked Avocet
The red-necked avocet (''Recurvirostra novaehollandiae'') also known as the Australian avocet, cobbler, cobbler's awl, and painted lady, is a wader of the family Recurvirostridae that is endemic to Australia and is fairly common and widespread throughout, except for the north and north east coastal areas of the country. Closely related to the stilts, it shares their fragile slender elegance, however the deep red head and neck distinguish them. It appeared on a 13 cent postage stamp in 1966. Taxonomy The French naturalist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot described the red-necked avocet in 1816, and it still bears its original name. It is one of four species of avocet that make up the genus ''Recurvirostra''. A 2004 study combining genetics and morphology showed that it was the sister taxon to a lineage that gave rise to the Andean and American avocets. Description The distinguishing feature of the red-necked avocet, and all avocet species, is the distinctive upcurved bill that is used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curlew Sandpiper
The curlew sandpiper (''Calidris ferruginea'') is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australia and New Zealand. It is a vagrant to North America. Taxonomy The curlew sandpiper was formally described in 1763 by the Danish author Erik Pontoppidan under the binomial name ''Tringa ferrugineus''. It is now placed with 23 other sandpipers in the genus '' Calidris'' that was introduced in 1804 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''ferruginea'' is from Latin ''ferrugo, ferruginis'', "iron rust" referring to its colour in breeding plumage. The curlew sandpiper is treated as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. Within the genus ''Calidris'' the curlew sandpiper is most closely related to the stilt sandpiper ('' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
