Has anybody seen a Curly Sandpiper before??? Is this a new
species for Australia?
I read the following article today in the ABC News website.
Don’t you just like the media when they get bird names
incorrect!
Edwin
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Last Update: Monday, January 17, 2005. 10:47am (AEDT)
Bird numbers at the Coorong drop
A dire warning has been issued about the health of the Coorong in South
Australia and the number of water birds that
migrate annually to the wetland.
Adelaide University ecologist
Dr David Patton has been in the area studying migratory wading bird numbers and
their food supply for his Earthwatch program.
He has monitored the Coorong for
years and says water birds are disappearing because of a lack of flows down the
Murray and the
condition of the mouth.
"Species like Curly sandpipers in the 1980s had
population sizes of around 40,000," he said.
"For the last two or three years it's barely 2,000 of
these birds [that] can now use this area.
"In terms of other species that have shown dramatic
decline, fairy turns in the 1980s and 1990s was about
1,500. In the last couple of years it's been less than 200 of these birds
present in the Coorong."
