I just added a new bird to my office list - a Black-winged Stilt walking
along the path about 3 metres from my office window. It must have thought
that it was a Magpie-lark! It was an immature and it seemed healthy. It
was stalking along the path and the dry garden looking for food, and when I
followed it it flew a few metres over a bush. It called a few times very
quietly. They are common in small numbers on our tailings dams, sewage
ponds and siltation ponds and any other areas with shallow water. This is
the first time that I have seen a Black-winged Stilt away from water. The
nearest place that usually has water where I have seen them before is 300
metres away, but this has been dry for a few months. Has anyone else
observed this behaviour before?
I saw an immature Nankeen Night-heron a few years ago behaving similarly,
but that was during the middle of the wet season.
Frank O'Connor
Argyle Diamonds
East Kimberley
Western Australia
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