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Story: Wading birds

Waders that occasionally visit New Zealand

Common Name Species
Avocets
Australian red-necked avocet Recurvirostra novaehollandiae
Pratincoles, coursers
Oriental pratincole Glareola maldivarum
Plovers, dotterels
American golden plover Pluvialis dominica
Grey plover Pluvialis squatarola
Semipalmated plover Charadrius semipalmatus
Red-capped dotterel Charadrius ruficapillus
Lesser sand plover Charadrius mongolus
Greater sand plover Charadruis leschenaultii
Oriental dotterel Charadrius veredus
Red-kneed dotterel Erythrogonys cinctus
Snipe, sandpipers, godwits, curlews
Japanese snipe Gallinago hardwickii
Great knot Calidris tenuirostris
Sanderling Calidris alba
Dunlin Calidris alpina
Stilt sandpiper Calidris himantopus
Baird’s sandpiper Calidris bairdii
White-rumped sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis
Little stint Calidris minuta
Long-toed stint Calidris subminuata
Least sandpiper Calidris minutilla
Semipalmated sandpiper Calidris pusilla
Western sandpiper Calidris mauri
Broad-billed sandpiper Limicola falcinellus
Ruff Philomachus pugnax
Buff-breasted sandpiper Tryngites subruficollis
Asiatic dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus
Little whimbrel Numenius minutus
Bristle-thighed curlew Numenius tahitiensis
Black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa
Hudsonian godwit Limosa haemastica
Upland sandpiper Bartramia longicauda
Wandering tattler Tringa incana
Common sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos
Common greenshank Tringa nebularia
Marsh sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis
Lesser yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Terek sandpiper Tringa cinerea
Phalaropes
Grey phalarope Phalaropus fulicaria
Red-necked phalarope Phalaropus lobatus
Wilson’s phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
Painted snipes
Painted snipe Rostratula benghalensis

These waders have been recorded in New Zealand, but fewer than five individuals visit each year. Most are migrants to Australia from the northern hemisphere. They may have reached New Zealand by joining a flock of another species that was en route to New Zealand, or by being blown off course during a storm, or simply by losing their way.

Using this item

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: New Zealand Birds Online

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How to cite this page

Gerard Hutching, Wading birds – New Zealand’s wading birds, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/9377/waders-that-occasionally-visit-new-zealand (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Gerard Hutching, published 2 March 2009.