When photographer Chris Rehberg spotted an unusual sight, he propped up his lens and started snapping away.
Mr Rehberg, who is also a keen bird watcher, saw a large shorebird bathing in the waters of Kogarah Bay at Blakehurst this week. It was one he hasn't seen before.
There in full sight and taking a break from flight, was what appeared to be a Hudsonian godwit, foraging for food near where Georges River Council is building a seawall to support marine life.
Mr Rehberg soon discovered that the bird is not regularly seen along Georges River - or in the state.
"Following a search of official wildlife observation records, it would appear the bird is only the sixth Hudsonian godwit recorded in NSW," he said.
"While standing and feeding it appears very similar to two other godwit species that are found in Australia.
"This is Sydney's first record of the species, which normally spends all of its time in the Americas, breeding in Canada and Alaska, then migrating to the southern tip of South America.
"I only learned this week that there are one in four fewer birds in the world now than 50 years ago - that's three billion fewer birds alive today, mostly due to habitat loss.
"Finding a rare visitor like this is a reminder that we need to do everything we can to preserve biodiversity - even on a local scale - if we hope to conserve and enrich the environment in which we live."
With dark legs and a long pink beak, the chestnut and white feathered bird was no doubt searching for its next snack, most likely crustaceans or insects.
Australian Museum ornithologist, Dr Leah Tsang, said while a definitive identification was difficult the Godwit sighting was indeed rare.
"Checking the literature, there appear to be only three accepted recorded sightings of this species reaching Australia," Dr Tsang said.
''This is considered to be a vagrant species to the Australasian region, and certainly in Australia.
''Sightings have been of solitary birds. They breed in Alaska and Canada, and generally move south for the boreal winter. They regularly visit New Zealand, however in small numbers."
Dr Leah Tsang said while she did not object against the identification of the bird, it's worth noting that the non-breeding Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) is documented in the literature as being nearly identical to the non-breeding Hudsonian Godwit, making ID extremely tricky.
''So this species needs to be considered as another potential candidate. There are only scattered records of the Black-tailed Godwit occurring along the NSW coast, so this is still a great sighting.''
Chief executive of Australian Wildlife Society, Patrick Medway, agreed with Dr Tsang that it was indeed an uncommon spotting by Mr Rehberg.
"If it turns out to be a Hudson godwit then it is indeed rare and has come a long way across the Pacific Ocean to feed on Kogarah Bay," he said.
"We have the bar-tailed godwits migrating each to and from Australia. The immature birds can be hard to identify until the distinctive bar markings appear on the tail area.
"The Hudson godwits tend to simply fly south and north on the mainland of North America."
