At 20:34 23/01/2002 -0800, Robert Inglis wrote:
In the context of a genuine interest in gaining more knowledge of one of the
most recent additions to the list of birds for Australia I wrote:
"It seems to me that an attempt should be made to mark or label SIPOs seen in
Australia to help solve this mystery by making it easier to track the
movements of this new-to-Australia (?) bird."
While I agree some good information could come of banding the SIPO at
Ballina, it is unlikely to happen.
The whole point of the pro banding debate is that banding is a very
controlled activity and done for solid reasons.
To band the bird you would need :
1. An A class bander with the appropriate national & state licences.
2. If cannon netting is to be used, then the bander will need these
licenses also.
3. Unless the beach at Ballina is already registered, then this site will
need to be registered.
4. Unless the bander has a project to cover banding a SIPO (waders in
general might do, but could be pushing it), then a project will need to be
registered.
5. The site would need to be recced a few times to identify the likely
catching site, and to consider the safety aspects.
6. The bander would need to find some assistants to help.
7. The beach would need to be closed during the activity.
Yes, this is all possible (especially if someone is already studying the
Pied Oystercatchers), but I would think that the effort involved would be
too much. Wader studies are usually done for a minimum of 50 birds of a
species if possible to compare moults, sizes, weights, ages, etc as well as
to identify movements and migration. Sure, some rare waders are caught as
a side catch (e.g. Little Stint in Victoria), but I don't think that this
has ever been the aim of a catch. Remember that apart from retraps at the
same site, much less than 1% of those banded are ever retrapped (hence the
use of coloured flags to greatly increase the reporting rate).
The Pied Oystercatchers at Ballina have been studied, but I can't remember
if they have been banded? other than perhaps as juveniles before fledging?
___________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://members.iinet.net.au/~foconnor
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