Hi Everyone,
With the writer's permission I send you the email below, which I
received this morning. Whilst sad, it contains interesting Beach
Stone-Curlew behaviour observation, which will interest some
subscribers. If anyone has any experience or opinion which may add to my
understanding of this poorly-studied species, your contributions will be
gratefully received. (I do have HANZAB, which notes that we don't know a
lot about the species.) I expect the birds will try to breed again, as
it's still early in the season.
This nesting failure occurred last night on Bribie Island, SEQld, at the
Kakadu Beach artificial shorebird high tide roost which we built in
2001/02. The observer, Michelle Marrington, has the priviledge of living
in a house overlooking the roost, and sits on her balcony with her binos
keeping us informed about the birds which come and go. She knew
practically to the hour when the egg was laid. The storm season has
arrived rather early this year. I believe it's the same pair which had
two breeding failures in the same location last summer.
Cheers,
Jill Dening
...................................
Hi Jill,
Sad news - just before six last night we watched as a massive storm
front approached across the Pumicestone Passage from Ningi, then
realised that what we were watching was not just rain but large hail
stones bombing the water. As they hit the roost the beach stone curlew
ran off from her nest site. The hail didn't last long, maybe only a
minute, but it was fierce at the time and the hailstones dropping around
us measured about 3 cm across. When the bird ran back to check her egg,
it had obviously been broken, and she picked up the immature chick in
her beak and carried it over to the open beach where she put it down and
was nudging it and trying to encourage it. I was watching through
binoculars and it was very sad to see. It was obvious the chick was not
mature enough to be viable. I think she had been sitting on the egg for
about 18 days. After a little while a very surprising thing happened,
she actually ate the chick! I'm interested to understand why she
reacted in this way - perhaps to end its suffering and make sure a
scavenger didn't get it?
Anyway, both parent birds are still standing in the same area of the
nest site this morning, looking as if they don't know what to do next,
but it is obvious that there wasn't another egg to continue with as they
aren't sitting. They chased off two marauding ospreys earlier this
morning that came to check the roost for after-storm pickings.
The 2 pied oyster catcher chicks survived the storm with their parents,
and are growing well. They shelter around the mangroves a lot. The
stilts hatched 3 very capable little chicks that were quickly running
around under the watchful eyes of their parents. They must have also
moved them to a more sheltered spot, as I haven't seen the whole family
for over a week now.
I'm realising how precarious it is for these birds to successfully raise
their young, trying to contend with the elements, other predators and
human interference. It is the second disaster I have witnessed for the
beach stone curlews. Maybe as it is early in the season, they may lay
another egg?
Regards
Michelle
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