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Alice Springs Waste Stabilisation Ponds

The Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella) is a medium-sized nomadic shorebird, commonly found in the arid inland parts of Australia, where they have come to breed.

A migratory species, they winter in the northern and eastern parts of Australia, as well as Indonesia, southern Borneo and New Guinea.

Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella), Alice Springs NT
Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds NT © Dorothy Latimer

The Australian Pratincole is also known as ‘Roadrunner’, due to the plover-like behaviour when on land, running and darting along the ground on its long legs catching insects.

The above presented photographs were taken in the month of March.

Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds, NT © Dorothy Latimer
Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds, NT © Dorothy Latimer

Check out our Birds | Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella)


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Subphylum: Vertebrata
  • Informal: Gnathostomata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Charadriiformes
  • Family: Glareolidae
  • Subfamily: Glariolinae
  • Genus: Stiltia
  • Species: Stiltia isabella

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