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Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Image ID 62158)
Photographed byMichael Hamel-Green on Tue 26th Mar, 2024 and uploaded on same date.
Resolution1800x1067
Viewed57
ID62158
CommentIt’s that time of year. Time to say goodbye to most of our intrepid globe-trotting migrants. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Curlew Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints are all about to take off on their return 13,000 flights to their breeding grounds in the Siberian Arctic. They have been frenetically feeding themselves up over the last few weeks to build their reserves for the gruelling journey. As the photo shows, they have certainly plumped themselves up. The Curlews will fly non-stop from Werribee to the Northern Territory, the Sandpipers and Stints will take things a little more gradually. We, of course, in southern Australia, will soon be bunkering down for the winter. It is a different matter for these visitors. They are heading into the Arctic spring and summer and need to dress themselves up in their far more colourful breeding outfits. As can be seen in the photo, several of the birds are already beginning to acquire the alluring red or rufous hues that make them so colourful during breeding. At the top centre, there is tiny Stint with larger Curlews on both sides. The Curlews are both beginning to put on their breeding attire of chestnut-hued head, neck and underparts. The Stint, for its part, is already sporting its eponymous red neck. For comparison, there is also a Stint just below it that it still in its non-breeding plumage, lacking a red neck. The Sharp-tailed Sandpapers, one on the left and one on the right, are also showing the first signs of developing their breeding plumage, with chevrons appearing on their breasts, later to expand to cover their whole underparts. So much to be done in the five or six months ahead before they start returning to our shores as Spring begins here. Just a little matter of flying to the other side of the planet, nestling in to hatch and nurture a new generation of feathered globe-trotters, and then struggling through the extreme storms and winds increasingly ambushing them as they return back along the East Asian-Australian Flyway.
EquipmentNikon Z8 Nikkor 500mm PF f5.6 TC1.4
700mm
ISO 1250
1/5000th f8
LocationLake Borrie, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, Victoria
Keywordsin flight, adult, breeding plumage/features, non-breeding plumage/features
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