Twitching Nordmann's Greenshank in Cairns

The avian New Year started with a bang when Cairns birder Adrian Walsh photographed a Nordmann’s (Spotted) Greenshank on the Cairns Esplanade. This is a rarity worldwide with as few as 1000 birds surviving. It had previously been known in Australia from a handful of sightings in northern Western Australia. The last two sightings from that part of the world were made at Roebuck Bay by Adrian Boyle in late November-early December last year: the Cairns bird is the first record for eastern Australia and incredibly, the third for the nation in five weeks. Since I’d missed the species at known sites in China, Vietnam and Malaysia, I was particularly keen to see it.

It turned out the greenshank had been present since at least December 26, 2020, when local birders photographed it but assumed they had a Terek Sandpiper. The bird was photographed in the morning of January 1 by Adrian Walsh, who realised he was on to something. It was foraging on exposed mud and sand flats at mid-tide towards the southern end of the esplanade, not far from the Cairns CBD, and associating loosely with a single Common Greenshank. At the right time of the tide cycle in the late afternoon, a large number of local birders saw the bird in the same spot, although it was more distant.

The Nordmann’s was present again in the morning of January 2 so I hopped on a plane that would get me to Cairns in time for the hoped-for afternoon show. I wasn’t to be disappointed. The bird showed brilliantly in the late afternoon sun, and closer than it had been during the earlier encounters. The greenshank was feeding actively for the 50 minutes or so I was watching, with brief spells to preen. It seemed most interested in catching crabs and was often running, its body relatively elongated and close to the ground, indeed recalling a Terek Sandpiper.

Although observers reported earlier that it was in the company of the Common Greenshank, I saw the Nordmann’s join that bird just briefly after flying and landing close to it. The Nordmann’s appeared to be quite relaxed about the large number of observers. It fed over about 200 metres of shoreline while I watched, tending to stick to the same stretch of sand and mud instead of foraging further afield. As the tide receded it became more distant, preferring to feed near the waterline.

The bird was smaller than I expected, being not much bigger than Grey-tailed Tattlers feeding nearby. See size comparisons with that species (above) and with Great Knot and Curlew-Sandpiper (below).

Other shorebirds present were Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit (the two godwit species below) , Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Terek Sandpiper, Whimbrel and Eastern Curlew. I was told this morning by Adrian Walsh that the bird is again at the usual spot today, notwithstanding heavy rainfall in the region associated with a tropical low.