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To the right of the frame, an adult Hooded Plover with a black head and neck, white front and red eyes and beak is perched behind some seaweed in the foreground among the sand of the beach. In the background, out of focus, is the blurry shape of a human walking along the shore and the blue water of the ocean.
Photographed by Larissa Hill
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Birds to look out for in December

Sunday, 1 December 2024

  • Estimated reading time 2 min

Birds to look out for in December

What birds might you see this month? Here are a few to look out for…

A black male Eastern Koel with a red eye perched in a tree with berries against a blotched green background.
The repetitive ‘coo-ee’ call of the Eastern Koel is a familiar (and unpopular!) sound of spring and summer in eastern Australia. Photo by Andrew King
  • Fork-tailed Swifts in south-western Australia
  • Brown Songlarks displaying in southern Australia
  • White-throated Needletails in south-eastern Australia
  • Hooded Plovers with chicks on ocean beaches in south-eastern Australia
  • Satin Flycatchers arriving in Tasmania from mainland Australia
  • Eastern Koels calling in eastern Australia

Interesting historical records from December:

3/12/1979   Common Tern  |  Temma, TAS |  1st record for Tasmania  

5/12/1995   Blue-and-White Flycatcher  |  near Cossack, WA  |  1st record for Australia  

5/12/2010   Eurasian Hobby Cocos (Keeling) Islands  |  1st record for Australia  

8/12/1990   Stilt Sandpiper  |  Avalon Saltworks, VIC  |  1st record for Australia  

12/12/1958   Westland Petrel  |  Cronulla, NSW  |  2nd record for NSW  

20/12/1995   Blue-winged Pitta  |  Coconut Well, WA   |  4th record for WA  

26/12/1982   Hudsonian Godwit  |  Kooragang Island, NSW  |  1st record for Australia  

26/12/1991   Black Noddy  |  Aireys Inlet, VIC  |  1st record for Victoria  

28/12/1978   Arctic Tern  |  Cairns, QLD  |  1st record for Queensland