Since 2004, Hunter BOC and NSW NPWS have combined to do a summer survey
of waterbirds in Port Stephens (NSW, ~50km N of Newcastle). It is a
boat-based survey, with 6 teams going simultaneously to sub-sections of
Port Stephens at high tide. The 2008 survey was done last Sunday, 10
February. The weather on the Friday/Saturday was fairly horrible but on
Sunday the weather gods decided to smile on us; except for one of the
boats encountering a brief squall, the rest of us had acceptable weather
culminating in bright
sunshine.
The wader numbers were about the same as most of the previous years,
albeit
with some variations to the counts for individual species. The numbers
for
other waterbirds were down by 400-500 from what we have become used to.
This mostly was due to the very low number of Black Swan compared to
previous years.
Actual numbers were:
Bar-tailed Godwit 886
Whimbrel 261
Eastern Curlew 320
Common Greenshank 5
Terek S/P 5
Grey-tailed Tattler 37
Ruddy Turnstone 5
Pied Oystercatcher 107
Sooty Oystercatcher 10
Red-capped Plover 10
Lesser Sand Plover 2
Masked Lapwing 46
Black Swan 35
Pac Black Duck 8
Chestnut Teal 11
Little Pied Cormorant 99
Little Black Cormorant 39
Great Cormorant 15
Pied Cormorant 263
Aust. Pelican 132
White-faced Heron 14
Little Egret 1
Eastern Great Egret 6
Aust White Ibis 15
Aust Wood Duck 4
Darter 2
Arctic Jaeger 1
Silver Gull 234
Crested Tern 82
Common Tern 1
Little Tern 5
Nankeen Night Heron 4
Striated Heron 1
Apologies for any purists, that the list is not in true taxonomic order.
I
lent out my new Christidis & Boles on Sunday!
Alan Stuart
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