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Australia Australia Ramsar wetland

Ashmore Reef Marine Park

94 bird species recorded; the most in October.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec78at the peak
Species recorded in each month · tap a month

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30

This month here

24 species in January.

The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.

Brown Booby
Brown BoobySula leucogasterWinter visitorAndreas Trepte · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ruddy TurnstoneNT
Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresSummer visitorJJ Harrison ( [email protected] · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lesser Frigatebird
Lesser FrigatebirdFregata arielWinter visitorAviceda at English Wikipedia ( Original text: Tom Tarrant ) · CC BY 3.0
Pacific Golden Plover
Pacific Golden PloverPluvialis fulvaSummer visitorAMMuench · CC BY 4.0
Greater Sand Plover
Greater Sand PloverCharadrius leschenaultiiSummer visitorChung Kiu, Ryan Cheng from Hong Kong · CC BY-SA 2.0
Common Greenshank
Common GreenshankTringa nebulariaSummer visitorCharles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0
Oriental Pratincole
Oriental PratincoleGlareola maldivarumSummer visitorJJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Common Sandpiper
Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucosSummer visitorChristoph Müller · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bridled Tern
Bridled TernOnychoprion anaethetusWinter visitorpeterichman · CC BY-SA 2.0
Great White Egret
Great White EgretArdea albaSummer visitorCalibas · CC BY-SA 3.0
White-tailed Tropicbird
White-tailed TropicbirdPhaethon lepturusWinter visitorDreizung · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pied Stilt
Pied StiltHimantopus leucocephalusSummer visitorJJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Great Crested-Tern
Great Crested-TernThalasseus bergiiResidentNoodle snacks · CC BY-SA 3.0
Reef Heron
Reef HeronEgretta sacraResidentUnknown author · CC BY-SA 2.5
Sooty Tern
Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatusResidentDrew Avery · CC BY 2.0
Red-necked StintNT
Red-necked StintCalidris ruficollisResidentJJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Eurasian Whimbrel
Eurasian WhimbrelNumenius phaeopusResidentAndreas Trepte · CC BY-SA 2.5
Masked Booby
Masked BoobySula dactylatraResidentSalmeidas · CC BY-SA 3.0
Red-footed Booby
Red-footed BoobySula sulaResidentCharles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 3.0
Little Egret
Little EgretEgretta garzettaResidentBirdman1 · CC BY 2.5
Nankeen Night Heron
Nankeen Night HeronNycticorax caledonicusResidentAndrew from Fremantle, Australia · CC BY 2.0
Red-tailed Tropicbird
Red-tailed TropicbirdPhaethon rubricaudaResidentRe-tail.jpg : Sabine's Sunbird derivative work: Haplochromis ( talk ) · Public domain
Anous stolidusAnous stolidusResident
Gull-billed Tern
Gull-billed TernGelochelidon niloticaResidentleppyone (Vincent P. Lucas) · CC BY 2.0
  • Resident all year
  • Summer visitor comes to breed
  • Winter visitor comes for the winter
  • Passage migrant in spring and autumn

In numbers

94 species, counted.

54out of 100

Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).

  • 94Speciesrecorded more than once
  • 31Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
  • 4ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
  • 3,520Recordsopen records within 6 km
  • 1Raptors
  • 30Waders
  • 25Gulls & seabirds
  • 7Herons, ibises & grebes
  • 20Songbirds
  • 11Other birds

From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.

The checklist

All 94 species.

By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.

Raptors1 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
Waders30 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresNT
  • Gray-tailed TattlerTringa brevipes
  • Red-necked StintCalidris ruficollisNT
  • SanderlingCalidris alba
  • Eurasian WhimbrelNumenius phaeopus
  • Pacific Golden PloverPluvialis fulva
  • Greater Sand PloverCharadrius leschenaultii
  • Bar-tailed godwitLimosa lapponicaNT
  • Common GreenshankTringa nebularia
  • Great KnotCalidris tenuirostris
  • Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaVU
  • Red KnotCalidris canutusNT
  • Curlew SandpiperCalidris ferrugineaVU
  • Terek SandpiperXenus cinereus
  • Far Eastern CurlewNumenius madagascariensis
  • Oriental PratincoleGlareola maldivarum
  • Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucos
  • Black-tailed GodwitLimosa limosaNT
  • Sharp-tailed SandpiperCalidris acuminataVU
  • Asian DowitcherLimnodromus semipalmatusNT
  • Little StintCalidris minuta
  • Pied OystercatcherHaematopus longirostris
  • Australian PratincoleStiltia isabella
  • Oriental DotterelCharadrius veredus
  • Broad-billed SandpiperCalidris falcinellusVU
  • Pied StiltHimantopus leucocephalus
  • Marsh SandpiperTringa stagnatilis
  • RedshankTringa totanus
  • Little CurlewNumenius minutus
  • Red-necked PhalaropePhalaropus lobatus
Gulls & seabirds25 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Brown BoobySula leucogaster
  • Great Crested-TernThalasseus bergii
  • Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
  • Anous stolidusAnous stolidus
  • Lesser FrigatebirdFregata ariel
  • Masked BoobySula dactylatra
  • Red-footed BoobySula sula
  • Little TernSternula albifrons
  • Anous minutusAnous minutus
  • Great FrigatebirdFregata minor
  • Lesser NoddyAnous tenuirostris
  • Bridled TernOnychoprion anaethetus
  • Red-tailed TropicbirdPhaethon rubricauda
  • Gull-billed TernGelochelidon nilotica
  • White-tailed TropicbirdPhaethon lepturus
  • Roseate TernSterna dougallii
  • Whiskered TernChlidonias hybrida
  • Common TernSterna hirundo
  • Nazca boobySula granti
  • White-winged TernChlidonias leucopterus
  • Abbott's BoobyPapasula abbotti
  • Jouanin's PetrelBulweria fallaxNT
  • Bulwer’s petrelBulweria bulwerii
  • Swinhoe's Storm PetrelOceanodroma monorhisNT
  • Wilson's Storm-PetrelOceanites oceanicus
Herons, ibises & grebes7 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Reef HeronEgretta sacra
  • Little EgretEgretta garzetta
  • Nankeen Night HeronNycticorax caledonicus
  • Great White EgretArdea alba
  • White-faced HeronEgretta novaehollandiae
  • Egretta intermediaEgretta intermedia
  • Little Black CormorantPhalacrocorax sulcirostris
Songbirds20 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Eastern Yellow WagtailMotacilla tschutschensis
  • Grey WagtailMotacilla cinerea
  • Barn swallowHirundo rustica
  • Black-faced CuckooshrikeCoracina novaehollandiae
  • Island MonarchMonarcha cinerascens
  • Oriental Reed WarblerAcrocephalus orientalis
  • Middendorff's Grasshopper-warblerLocustella ochotensis
  • Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanus
  • Magpie larkGrallina cyanoleuca
  • Yellow-browed WarblerPhylloscopus inornatus
  • Yellow White-eyeZosterops luteus
  • Arctic warblerPhylloscopus borealis
  • Muscicapa latirostrisMuscicapa latirostris
  • Australian White-winged TrillerLalage tricolor
  • Yellow ChatEpthianura crocea
  • Grey-streaked FlycatcherMuscicapa griseisticta
  • Tiger ShrikeLanius tigrinus
  • Pallas’s grasshopper warblerLocustella certhiola
  • Brown SonglarkMegalurus cruralis
  • Megalurus timoriensisMegalurus timoriensis
Other birds11 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Buff-banded RailGallirallus philippensis
  • Sacred KingfisherTodiramphus sanctus
  • Oriental CuckooCuculus optatus
  • Horsfield's Bronze CuckooChrysococcyx basalis
  • Rainbow Bee-eaterMerops ornatus
  • White-collared KingfisherTodiramphus chloris
  • Shining cuckooChrysococcyx lucidus
  • Oriental DollarbirdEurystomus orientalis
  • Pacific SwiftApus pacificus
  • House SwiftApus nipalensis
  • Pallid cuckooCuculus pallidus

Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.

When to go

The most species in October.

Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.

  1. Jan2429°/28°300 mm
  2. Feb2329°/28°224 mm
  3. Mar4929°/28°180 mm
  4. Apr2129°/29°73 mm
  5. May528°/28°32 mm
  6. Jun227°/27°17 mm
  7. Jul1926°/26°10 mm
  8. Aug3526°/25°5 mm
  9. Sep3227°/26°9 mm
  10. Oct7828°/28°20 mm
  11. Nov6429°/29°45 mm
  12. Dec130°/29°203 mm
  • Bar: species recorded that month.
  • Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Ashmore Reef Marine Park.

Marine park around Ashmore Reef, Australia

Ashmore Reef Marine Park is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Australia.

94 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 3,520 open records.

The most recorded are the Brown Booby, the Great Crested-Tern and the Reef Heron.

17 species come for the summer, 7 for the winter and 7 only pass through.

4 are threatened worldwide, including Grey Plover, Curlew Sandpiper and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

The most species are recorded in October.

Ashmore Reef Marine Park seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30

Get there and watch

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The place and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.

Ashmore Reef Marine Park seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

    • bird hides within 6 km
    • observation towers within 6 km
    • marked trails within 4 km
    • visitor centres within 6 km
    • viewpoints within 5 km
    • car parks within 3 km
    • restaurants and cafés within 3 km
    • campsites within 10 km
    • places to stay within 10 km

    Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

    Other places nearby.

    Ashmore Reef Marine Park

    Australia

    • 54Birdyas Score
    • 94Species
    • 31Migrants
    • 4Threatened

    Adele Island

    Australia · 365 km

    • 49Birdyas Score
    • 69Species
    • 21Migrants
    • 4Threatened

    See the guide

    Where these figures come from

    Name and typeWikidata (Q726181) · CC0
    Birds3,520 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
    See these recordsgbif.org
    SpeciesGBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons
    AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
    Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
    What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
    ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

    Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

    The family

    Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

    Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.