The Beach Stone-Curlew (Esacus magnisrostris) in the Sydney Basin and South East Corner Bioregions of New South Wales

Abstract

The beach stone-curlew (Esacus magnirostris) has only been resident in New South Wales since the 1970’s. Here, records of the beach stone-curlew from the Sydney Basin and South East Corner bioregions were analysed. The earliest record was an individual sighted on The Entrance in 1959, with no subsequent records until 1978. The majority of records in the study area occurred in the last two decades. Some records are isolated; however others indicate that a bird may have stayed in an area for up to months at a time. Examples include individuals seen at the Long Reef Aquatic Reserve, Botany Bay/Kurnell Peninsula, the Royal National Park, the Shoalhaven district and Merimbula. Based on the timing proximity of some records in 2015, records from four locations in Sydney in the space of two months may have been the same individual. Few sightings of more than one bird were recorded. Merimbula was the southern extremity of beach stone-curlews in the study area. The known breeding population in the state was restricted to the North Coast bioregion prior to the recent observations of a breeding pair in Port Stephens.