This afternoon I made a quick drop-in to Manly Boat Harbour (that's the
Brisbane version of Manly, not Sydney). While walking on the coastal side I
unexpectedly flushed half a dozen tattlers and a turnstone from the rock wall.
I thought little of it at the time, except that that was a little unusual for
Grey-taileds to be taking up residence there. Shortly after, I was scanning the
ponds and immediately picked out a very dark tattler mingling with the
Grey-taileds. It was a Wandering Tattler - a bird I've had plenty of experience
with around rocky coastal headlands locally, but never in this environment. I
wouldn't have thought twice about the ID if not for the very atypical location,
but the extremely dark overall cast combined with the pale lores and eye-ring
(not extending past the eye) and slightly larger, heavier appearance all
checked out. Wandering and Grey-tailed Tattlers of course usually use quite
different habitat, so I'd be interested to hear from anyone who may h
ave encountered the former away from the usual rocky shores.
Many waders have clearly left the area on migration since my last visit here in
January. Good additional birds were two Grey Plovers, at least three returned
Double-banded Plovers, a Large Sand-Plover in pretty much complete breeding
nick, and a bird which I initially thought may have been a Reeve - I could just
see a tiny head on a Sharpie-sized body sticking up from some grass at one
point! Unfortunately, I couldn't definitely relocate the bird after it flew to
one of the centre islands. I'm still a bit befuddled by it, to be honest, so
might head back for another look. If anyone else is heading that way, keep your
eyes peeled.
Cheers
Andrew
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