Shorebirds (whimbrels & godwits)
Photo by Roger Jaensch
Quick facts
- Shorebird species
- differ greatly in size and shape of the body and bill, and in the length of their legs and neck. Their morphology is closely linked to how and what they fed on. These differences are useful for field identification, especially during the non-breeding season when many migratory species are predominantly grey or brown in colour.
Shorebirds in Queensland are protected under various State and Commonwealth law and a number of species are listed as threatened. There are also a range of international conventions agreements and partnerships that relate to the protection and management of shorebirds and their habitats.
Of the over 50 shorebird species that regularly occur in Australia, around a third are resident species, meaning they breed in Australia and do not migrate outside of Australia. One other species, the Australian pratincole, breeds on semi-arid plains of central and northern Australia and migrates to south east Borneo, Java and New Guinea.
Some resident shorebirds such as the Australian pied oystercatcher, sooty oystercatcher, beach stone-curlew, red-capped plover 
and black-winged stilt breed on the upper beach,foredune close to the water’s edge or on slightly raised sites in shallow water. Others, such as the Australian painted snipe, breed on inland ephemeral freshwater wetlands. Some birds including the inland dotterel, plains-wanderer and bush stone-curlew have been referred to as inland resident shorebirds, but these species do not use wetlands as primary habitat or for breeding.
Pied Oystercatcher
Photo by Micha V. Jackson
Australia's migratory shorebird species form part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. This flyway route extends from breeding grounds in the Alaskan and East Siberian tundras and forests, and the steppes and deserts of Mongolia and extreme Northern China, to non-breeding areas in South-east Asia, Australasia and New Zealand. Migratory shorebirds spend the majority of their time in their non-breeding environments. Distributions for many species along the Queensland coast can be viewed here.
Because of their annual migration, migratory shorebirds experience mostly long days and warm conditions year-round, which normally equates to a plentiful food supply. However, migratory shorebirds must use widely separated and dissimilar environments at each end of their journey and also during their migration as stopover sites to rest and regain weight. Their survival depends on the presence of suitable habitat and the ability to utilise habitats in locations that are many thousands of kilometres apart. One of the best-studied species and the world's largest migratory shorebird, the eastern curlew, dramatically builds up its body weight just before migration. During its flight from Siberia to Australia, it will burn off 40 per cent of this weight to fuel its 13,000 km journey.
Great knot
Photo by Ken Jones
While migratory shorebirds travel huge distances each year, resident Australian species may move long distances between suitable wetland habitat depending upon changes in local conditions and time of year. Extreme and unpredictable, or regular changes between wet and dry conditions are usually the cause of movements of many resident shorebirds. Migratory species that use freshwater wetlands are similarly at the behest of changes of varying conditions in Australian wetlands.
Of the regularly occurring shorebird species in Australia, several occur in quite low numbers and are seldom seen in Queensland. They include the red-necked phalarope, little ringed plover, long-toed stint, common redshank and pin-tailed and swinhoe’s snipes. Furthermore, two of the resident species, banded stilt and hooded plover, have distributions that centre on southern inland regions or southern coastal regions respectively, and are not typical of the Queensland shorebird community.
- Shorebird species in Queensland
- Conservation and management
- Shorebird legislation, policy and agreements
- Inventory and assessments
- Monitoring
- Education
- National Directory of Important Migratory Shorebird Habitat
- Desktop analysis to inform the design for megafauna monitoring within the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program: Final Report of the Shorebirds Team in the Megafauna Expert Group
- The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation provides more information on people’s interactions with shorebirds in Queensland
- Bird Life Australia provides a range of books, reports and projects including the Australian National Shorebird Monitoring Program
- The Queensland Wader Study Group monitor wader (shorebird) populations in Queensland and undertake a range of initiatives to further their conservation
- The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership aims to protect migratory waterbirds (shorebirds), their habitat and the livelihoods of people dependent upon them
- The Australian Government participates in a range of agreements, conventions, partnerships and activities contributing the conservation of shorebirds and these are outlined on the Department's Migratory birds page
- The Queensland Government undertakes a range of initiatives contributing to the conservation and management of shorebirds in Queensland National parks and marine parks including strategies, guides, regulation, protected area management, education and monitoring. This includes Marine park zoning plans, that provides for shorebird protection.
- Atlas of Living Australia provides species information, data sets, images and mapping.
- The Centre for Ecosystem Science, University of NSW provides information on the National Waterbird Survey, waders, aerial surveys and more.
- Birds Queensland works to promote the scientific study and conservation of birds in Queensland
- Video tour of migratory shorebird research at the Fuller Lab (Duration 8:10)
- Why are Queensland's migratory shorebirds disappearing? (Duration 44:10)
- Australasian Wader Studies Group
- Video on links between gulf rivers and food for migratory shorebirds
Pages under this section
References
Last updated: 2 February 2021
This page should be cited as:
Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Queensland (2021) Shorebirds, WetlandInfo website, accessed 11 April 2025. Available at: https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/ecology/components/biota/fauna/fauna-taxon/birds/shore-bird/
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— Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation
