Species fact sheet by Global Register of Migratory Species - www.groms.de

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Strongly migratory. migration route is still a mystery; presumably flies from Japan to E Australia in few days, non-stop or stopping only at few staging sites, e.g. New guinea and Australia. Leaves breeding grounds late Jul to early Aug, concentrating in wet lowlands, then departing Sept to early Oct; arrival in Australia from late Jul to Oct. Erratic movements in Non-breeding quarters, probably in response to rainfall and food availability. S Australia vacated in late Feb, and birds move gradually to N Australia; Japan reached early Apr to May, Primorskiy late Apr to mid-May, Sakhalin from late Apr. Fair numbers visit New Guinea, but few , if any overwinter; species rarely spends N winter in NW Australia; vagrant in New Zealand. Most first-year birds put on fat in winter quarters, and migrate N. Species said to move at night; weather might influence timing and use of stopover sites.   (del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J (eds), 1996)

• digitised by GROMS, after del Hoyo J A Elliott; J Sargatal (eds) (1996) - www.hbw.com,
• Copyright: GROMS/BfN - www.groms.de
  
  (A digitised version of this map is published in GIS shape format on the GROMS CD).