On 10/02/2011 2:43 PM, Peter Madvig wrote:
> Hi Jill,
> That's just amazing -- almost better than Roebuck Bay :-) By anyone's
> standards, this is a remarkable observation, and a bird that there are
> some fears about.
>
> A great one for the Shorebirds records.
> Persistence pays.
>
> Cheers
> Peter
Hi All,
Peter's mention of persistence struck a chord with me, for I have
another story to tell you about Eastern Curlews.
On Monday, unable to do the passage survey, I went to the Kakadu Beach
roost with a friend, and on the high tide there were about 2,500 Bartail
Godwits and a few dozen Great Knot. A few others, but not migratory
waders. Anyway, that's not the point.
I called another friend, Trevor Ford, to say there were heaps of birds
roosting at Kakadu on the high, and he came around to have a look. Then
we all went on to the old Dux Creek roost (now obliterated and a
development called Pacific Harbour) and there we found almost 300
Eastern Curlews. Not necessarily the same Eastern Curlews I found
yesterday at Glass Mountain Creek, as there is a bit of distance between
the sites.
And now I get to my long-winded point (sorry). Kakadu Beach roost was
artificially created to compensate for the destruction of the old Dux
Creek roost. Before its destruction, Trevor used to count up to 1,000
Eastern Curlews on the high tide. The Eastern Curlews use the new roost
(Kakadu) now and then, but definitely prefer the old site. I really mean
this old Dux Creek roost has been obliterated. Instead of erstwhile
intertidal mud, the Eastern Curlews now roost quite comfortably on mown
grass which has been transported in to make the new marina look nice.
Talk about persistence! And site fidelity!
Also on this construction site of many years duration were more than a
hundred Lesser Sand Plovers, some Golden Plovers, a couple of hundred
Bartailed Godwits, but none of them was roosting on the mown grass with
the curlews. Trevor Ford goes in to both roosts regularly to monitor the
situation.
I should add that Trevor, and Trevor only, has permission from the
developers to enter the building site where the old roost was. No one
should go in there without permission.
Amazing example of site fidelity.
Cheers,
Jill
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51' 41"S 152° 56' 00"E
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