Hi All,
In case anyone is chasing migratory terns or tern shots, don't bother
with Caloundra, Sunshine Coast. I checked there last night and went
home about 6.30. Barb Dickson, my hardier offsider clung on and got
about 660 migratory terns coming in at about 7.15-7.30pm to roost, but
so late that views were minimal.
Dorothy Pashniak last night reported small numbers at Inskip Point
(just south of Fraser Is).
They seem to be concentrated right now around the Noosa area. For
locals, I'll copy below the report I wrote for a selected list after
Tuesday's surveys. Don't bother if you are not interested in
shorebirds. If you go to Noosa, there is now a public telescope at
Noosa Woods, and if the terns are in the right place you will see them,
but if it's photos you want, you'll need water transport.
Copy of informal report below, with numbers at the bottom. The category
of Migratory Terns is used when we are unable to separate to species
level.
Cheers,
Jill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi
Everyone,
We conducted our January surveys (12/1) on a super-high tide, almost
the
maximum tide level which appears in the published tables. Thanks as
always to my wonderful band of helpers - you keep me stimulated,
motivated and active. I love it when you challenge me, because you
might be right, and I might learn something new!
Birds only used two roosting places. Nothing else was available. One
was the protected sand island (Site 2), which was mostly flooded, with
odd grassed and vine-covered hillocks which the birds used. The other
was the north shore spit (Site 1), but there was very little of the
protected zone available, heaps of disturbance from boaties, and the
birds chose to roost north of the bollards. They were able to do this
because the extreme tides meant no beach traffic could come down the
beach.
On the low tide surveys, there was heaps of disturbance everywhere, as
you would expect at this time of year. I remain concerned about boaties
using the beach of Site 2 (sand island) right next to the Do Not Enter
signs, as it sets a bad example. They say they don't go into the
vegetation, but soon they will. Or others will see them there and do so.
Annie and Ben:
A no-go sign which was
recently installed on the beach side of the
bollards is now missing. It could have been taken down, but it's also
possible it was washed away.
A jetskier, whose craft rego
was .......... ,was hooning around the breeding
island, Site 2, at full speed, actually going through the wave breach
in the
no-go sand island where the birds were roosting. I have a photo of him.
Last month, when the tide was also very high, the shorebirds roosted
with the terns on the north shore, but this time, although they could
have done so, they chose not to, and I think this may have been due to
constant disturbance. Instead they roosted where they never roost - in
the sand island vegetation. Some species were missing for the entire
day, and you can't put this down to the high tide surely. They were
also missing on the low tide. I picked up 10 Whimbrel from pics when
the birds lifted from the sand island on the high tide. One male
Bar-tailed Godwit had a fair amount of breeding plumage, and I got a
pic of him standing in the dune grasses.
For the first time we had THREE Beach Stone-Curlew on the sand island,
but the addition was an adult bird, which may have been displaced from
further afield by the high tide.
Terns: we had our fill of migrant terns for the first time this
season. It was great to see them, and we ended the evening with a good
score, more than 15,000. We got some very useful shots of them on the
high tide roost. A handful of the Little Terns had fading yellow bills,
indicating, at this stage, local breeders, as it's too early for the
Asians to get yellow bills. Crested Terns: the breeding caps are
starting to moult. No arrivals yet of juvenile Cresteds from the
breeding islands.
To the numbers below. During the afternoon I counted 4000 migrant terns
in 10s on site 3, then assessed/guessed the percentages of each species
to 85% COTE, 10% LITE, 5% WWTE. After this we saw terns arriving fast,
and Allan calculated their arrivals at 1/sec or 300 every 5 mins. So I
added another 1000 ( conservative) and kept the same percentages. With
the shorebird species, you'll see there were some wild swings between
tides, and I have no answer for that. It gets down to tide height and
to disturbance, but can't determine, and it may vary with species.
Come the evening survey from Noosa Woods, we had to estimate the size
of the roosting flock to begin, and through the scope arrived at 8000,
then started adding to them as birds arrived from the sea.
Tide positions below: 1=high; 3=low; 4=rising (evening survey).
| Survey_Date |
Tide_Position |
Species_Id |
Common_Name |
Sum Of Number_Seen |
Totals |
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
1 |
Caspian Tern |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
2 |
CommonTern |
1150 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
3 |
Crested Tern |
312 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
5 |
Little Tern |
400 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
6 |
White-winged Black Tern |
1150 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
8 |
Silver Gull |
72 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
10 |
Eastern Curlew |
3 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
11 |
Whimbrel |
10 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
12 |
Bar-tailed Godwit |
72 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
17 |
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |
3 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
21 |
Red-necked Stint |
2 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
27 |
Red-capped Plover |
15 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
29 |
Pacific Golden Plover |
35 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
36 |
Australian Pelican |
6 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
37 |
Little Pied Cormorant |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
50 |
Osprey |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
51 |
White-bellied Sea-Eagle |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
57 |
Pacific Black Duck |
4 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
1 |
58 |
Beach Stone-Curlew |
3 |
3241 |
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
2 |
CommonTern |
4250 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
5 |
Little Tern |
500 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
6 |
White-winged Black Tern |
250 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
8 |
Silver Gull |
98 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
10 |
Eastern Curlew |
4 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
11 |
Whimbrel |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
12 |
Bar-tailed Godwit |
44 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
27 |
Red-capped Plover |
24 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
29 |
Pacific Golden Plover |
28 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
36 |
Australian Pelican |
20 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
38 |
Pied Cormorant |
6 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
48 |
Whistling Kite |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
50 |
Osprey |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
51 |
White-bellied Sea-Eagle |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
3 |
58 |
Beach Stone-Curlew |
1 |
5229 |
| 12-Jan-09 |
4 |
3 |
Crested Tern |
51 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
4 |
8 |
Silver Gull |
13 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
4 |
9 |
Terns migratory |
15030 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
4 |
40 |
Little Black Cormorant |
1 |
|
| 12-Jan-09 |
4 |
54 |
Striated Heron |
1 |
15096 |
Cheers,
Jill
--
Jill Dening
PO Box 362
10 Piat Place
Beerwah Qld 4519
Australia
26° 51' 41"S 152° 56' 00"E
07 5494 0994
0419 714405
--
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51' 41"S 152° 56' 00"E
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