Nightcliff

Visited: very late dry season

Recommendation: This little patch of rock and sand in Darwin is a great place to find migratory shorebirds. All the usual suspects can be found here as well as some less common birds like the Oriental Plover. It is worth a visit if you are in Darwin.

The Darwin suburb of Nightcliff is a little north west of the airport and around half of its perimeter is coastline. I visited Sunset Park close to the jetty and here, there is a path that overlooks a very small area of rock. The tide was in so there was no visible beach and at first, I couldn't see any birds. 

I stood and just admired the early morning light on the rocks and the water but then I saw movement. And again. The more I looked, the more I saw birds on the rocks and a good number of them too. I followed the steps down onto the rocks and began to inch my way forward towards them. I knew that Oriental Plover had been seen here in recent days and I was keen to find them. 

Shorebirds are notoriously difficult to identify, particularly when they are in non-breeding plumage. The worst of all of them, for me, are the sand plovers. When they are next to each other, it is easier but telling the Greater and Siberian Sand Plovers apart from photos is so hard. I have been back and forward on these 2 birds. I am pretty sure that the bird on the right is the Siberian (formerly named the Lesser) Sand Plover. It is more compact and the bill is small. The bird on the left is bulkier with a larger bill making it the Greater Sand Plover. And then I change my mind!

I particularly like these photos. The Sand Plover on the far left is a small bird but the Red-necked Stint next to it is demonstrably smaller. It just shows how tiny this bird is. There is a lot of publicity about the endurance of the godwit when they migrate but this tiny bird, the size of a finch, flies every year from the high Arctic to Australasia. They are, by far, my favourite wader. 

The Pacific Golden Plover and the Great Knot are not similar shorebirds other than in size and at a stretch, shape. However, in non-breeding plumage, even they are difficult to distinguish between.