Hi Michael,
Apologies for being a month behind reading Birding-Aus postings (QWSG
keeps me pretty busy these days).
You wrote:
> Do Terek Sandpipers depart roosts before the larger species, or are
>there none around Moreton Bay at present?
>From my own observations at a number of sites it is quite possible that
Tereks do not depart the roosts before the larger species, instead
they choose sites away from the main roost. Sure, some Tereks will be
found at the main roosts on high tide but from my recollection of the
data I have seen over the last couple of years the numbers are quite
low.
Phil & myself do high tide counts once a month at 3 sites in Deception
Bay (north of Brisbane) and one of these sites is behind the DPI
Fisheries Research Station. We cover this site specifically for Tereks
and Tattlers, which sometimes can be found perched on branches in a
small row of 5 mangrove trees or, depending on the height of the tide,
they will be on the rocks or boat ramp. On 10-10-99 we found 2 Ruddy
Turnstone, 13 Whimbrel, 60 Grey-tailed Tattler, 14 Terek Sandpiper and 2
Curlew Sandpiper roosting on the boat ramp. Quite often there are no
birds at the site at all.
There is another roost along the esplanade that the Tattlers used a few
years ago but we have only recorded one Terek there (just recently).
Because we have not seen the Terek at the other roosts on the occasions
that they are missing from the fisheries site we can only assume that
they are roosting somewhere else.
During a recent discussion with Peter Driscoll and others regarding
counts of specific wader species it was suggested that counts of
Whimbrel, Grey-tailed Tattler, and Terek Sandpiper could not be
accurately assessed at high tide roosts because these 3 species also
tend to roost in mangroves and low tide counts should be considered.
>What's a good brand of tripod for a reasonable price?
Depends on what your reasonable price is? My suggestion is always a
sturdy one when it comes to wader watching. I saw a new Kowa scope
nearly hit the ground at Manly Boat Harbour a couple of weeks ago which
was attached to a light weight tripod.
Linda Cross
QWSG
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