Memorandum to:         The Director of Birds Australia

From:                          Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)

Date:                            2^nd March 2007

Voting Members:         Mike Carter                   Andrew Silcocks

                                    Rohan Clarke                 Glenn Holmes

                                    John Hatch                    Jamie Matthew

                                    Tony Palliser                 Danny Rogers

Cc.                               Ron Johnstone              

Submission No 519: Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer Eighty\ Mile Beach, WA, 2^nd December 2006. Submitted by: Adrian Boyle & Tony Kirkby

Verdict: Accepted

This submission relates to the sighting of a Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer on the 2nd of December 2006 during a shorebird count along Eighty Mile Beach in the north west of WA (19º17’43”S –121º22’06”E).

The description and supporting photographs identify the bird conclusively and eliminate the similar and closely related Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia. The bird was seen in association with at least 200 Common Greenshank allowing direct comparison.

The small size, bright yellow-green legs,  much shorter (due to a very short tibia) than those of Common Greenshank, overall paler grey appearance above, pale-grey tertials, lesser, median and greater coverts, similar but more bulbous and heavier two toned yellow/black bill, pure white underwing coverts and axillaries are diagnostic. Most of these features are revealed in the photographs. The bird was not heard calling and there was no obvious sign of moult.

Members voted unanimously in favour of acceptance congratulating the observers for a magnificent find and excellent documentation.

This is the first confirmed record for Australia. Nordmann’s Greenshank is a globally endangered species declining rapidly with current estimates putting the total population between 250 and 1000 individuals (Red Data website). It is only known to breed on Sakhalin Island off the eastern coast of mainland Russia.

Selected Bibliography:

• Beaman, M. & Madge S. (1998), The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic, Princeton, New Jersey .
• Cramp, S. (Ed.) 1985. The birds of the Western Palearctic. Volume 3. Waders
  to Gulls. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Hayman, P., Marchant, J. & Prater, T. (1986), Shorebirds; an Identification Guide to the Waders of the World, Croom Helm, Sydney.
• Howes, J & Lambert, F. (1987), ‘Some notes on the status, field identification and foraging characteristics of Nordmann’s Greenshank’, Wader Study Group Bulletin 49: 14-17
• Howes, J. (1988), ‘Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer: status and threats’, Asian Wetland news 1: 12
• Kennerley, P. R. & D. N. Bakewell (1991), ‘Identification and status of Nordmann's Greenshank’," Dutch Birding 13: 1-8.
• Kennerley P.R & Bakewell, D.N (1987), ‘Nordmann’s Greenshank in Hong Kong: A review of the identification and status’, Hong Kong Bird Report 1986 : 83-100.
• Moores, N., Battley, P., Rogers, D., Park M-N., Sung H-C, van de Kam, J. & K. Gosbell, (2006), ‘Birds Korea- AWSG Saemangeum Shorebird Monitoring Program Report, 2006’, Birds Korea publication, Busan.
• Patterson, R.M. (1991), ‘Submission # 66’, RAOU Records Appraisal Committee, Opinions and Case Summaries 1988-1991, RAOU Report # 80, 15-16.
• The Red Data Book, threatened birds of Asia by Birdlife International http://www.rdb.or.id/index.html

Tony Palliser

Chairman, Birds Australia Rarities Committee