canberrabirds

Coastal birds

To: "Philip Veerman" <>, "Mark Clayton" <>, "Julian Robinson" <>, <>
Subject: Coastal birds
From: "Lashko Susan" <>
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:19:24 +1000
Well done, Julian - 3 out of 3!

The DB Plover is interesting - juveniles have a white collar like that so maybe 
this is a teenager coming into its first breeding season.  They are a really 
tricky plover - I recall a couple of years ago Harvey Perkins and I finding a 
rather plain plover at Lake Wollumboola.  After studying 4 different field 
guides we had with us, we thought the closest match was a non-breeding Oriental 
Plover, but we were very sceptical given that there are only 2 records for 
southern NSW.   Harvey took lots of photos and it wasn't until he consulted 
HANZAB back in Canberra that we were happy that it was in fact a DB Plover, 
despite having no bands and no white throat.  So they do vary a lot and not all 
plumage variations appear in standard field guides.

Waders are such fun!

Sue

For what it is worth, I agree with Mark. I can't offer any opinion as to why 
the Double-banded Plover has a white collar. How many of them do? Is this 
relevant to the birds that Elizabeth Compston reported on? As for the variation 
in colouring of the Caspian Tern. I'd suggest it could be related to a 
difference in the angle of viewing and the direction of the light of the 2 
birds, rather than any camera effect or difference between the birds. (Wings of 
bird on left are in shade.)

Philip


From: Mark Clayton <>  To: 'Julian Robinson' 
<>  ; 
        Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 4:05 PM  Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] 
Coastal birds


        Hi Julian,



        A quick reply, A = Double-banded Plover coming in to breeding plumage 
before heading off to NZ where they breed, B= Red-capped Plover, possibly 
female as you suggest, and C= Caspian Tern possibly coming in to breeding 
plumage. Yes, they are a big tern and that beak can give a painful bite (from 
experience).



        Cheers,



        Mark



        
________________________________


From: Julian Robinson 
        Sent: Monday, 27 August 2007 2:52 PM  To: 
  Subject: [canberrabirds] Coastal birds



        I found coastal birds very hard going on the w/end, my first real 
attempt to identify beach type birds.  Yesterday I walked from our campsite at 
Termeil north along the beach to Tabourie. There weren't many sea birds apart 
from an impressively large Sea-eagle, but I did see a Fan-tail Cuckoo perched 
on top of the small  sandhills, on low shrubby veg right on the beach.  This 
surprised me since I thought they were tree-birds and not a beach-type bird.
        
        But I had troubles with these plovers... there were 4 of them together, 
only on getting home did I realise they were two different species(!), and my 
guides have me foxed although I realise that migration and breeding variations 
in plumage make sea birds a bit of a challenge.
        
        Bird A below seems to be a Double-banded Plover in intermediate 
plumage, but then I see that the guides point out as diagnostic that the Ringed 
Plovers are the only ones with the white collar going right round and over the 
back, as this one does.  This one also doesn't have yellow legs so pretty sure 
it is not a RP, but it still has a clear all-round collar which contradicts the 
diagnostic point.

        Any thoughts?
        
        Bird B below I'm guessing a female or non-breeding Red-capped Plover 
but don't know which.
        
        BBBBB
        
        
        Bird C (Tabourie) seems like a Caspian Tern but again they were beside 
Silver Gulls and almost the same size which confused me a bit, and the 
variation in colouring shown is not reflected in any of my 5 guides. One was 
almost white and the other dark grey, not a trompe-de-camera (to borrow Roger's 
phrase) but actually there...
        
        
        
        I would be interested in any comment on the variability of sea and 
beach birds and my confusions.
        
        ((These image totalled 75KB but will be increased by email formatting, 
I can't measure final size but it should be less than the current 100K limit.))

        Julian


*******************************************************************************************************
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra 
Ornithologists Group.
List-Post: <>
List-Help: <>
List-Unsubscribe: <>
List-Subscribe: <>
List archive: <http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds>
List manager: David McDonald, email 
<>

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU