When townsville was flooded in Jan. '98 I was stranded in Bowen for 2
nights, and stayed in an overnight van at Horeshoe Bay. I trotted (read
stumbled) out to the point to look for storm blown goodies (only 1 Great
Frigate, 1 Least Frigate, 5-6 Bridled Terns). On the point (a small area of
boulders with a little sand beach about .25 acre) and foraging along the
shoreline there were about 20 Common Terns and about 60 Black-naped Terns.
Seventeen of the Black-napeds were juveniles, some in fresh juvenile and
others in advanced moult to first immature (1st basic). The juveniles were
still begging and being fed by the adults, and adults were singling out
specific juveniles to feed. A few of the juveniles still had short wings
and tail and I would guesss were not capable of sustained flight. It would
seem that of colony of about 20-30 pairs bred on the point at Horseshoe
Bay. Can anyone confirm this? I'm not aware of any other mainland breeding
records for this species. HANZAB does not specifically list any mainland
records. Any info?
P.S The area was sign-posted as "Bowen's nudist beach", a great place to
lurk amongst the rocks with binoculars whilst taking notes. Does anyone
know if Black-naped Terns prefer nudist beaches?
David James
PO BOX 5225
Townsville Mail Centre 4810
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