A work trip saw me spending a bit over a day in Weipa a couple of
weeks ago.
The highlight was watching a fleet of frigatebirds returning to their
roosting site from Evans Landing late in the afternoon [after 5pm].
There were literally hundreds of them flying in waves (like WW2
bombers) along a corridor similar to that used by the cargo ships
coming to load bauxite. They then proceeded to circle over the bay.
This communal behaviour led me to wonder if Frigatebirds had some form
of culture ...
While I got the impression that most of the frigatebirds roost near
the bauxite plant, the next evening a half a dozen flew over the
airport at dusk, heading inland ...
There were of course, not Spotted Whistling Ducks in the area. Rio
Tinto has upgraded its sewage treatment system, so the environmental
conditions that attracted the SWD to the area no longer exist. I
crossed paths with a consulting ecologist who was undertaking surveys
in the area. He mentioned that SWD had been seen on a river about 400
km away last year.
The third point of interest for me involved the local landfill. In
southern Australia, the 'trash birds' [landfill custodians] are
typically corvids, kites, White Ibis and Cattle Egrets. In Weipa [and
on Thursday Island] the trash birds were Pied Herons.
Regards, Laurie.
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