Yes, I do :) It is still at Tuross Lake, south of Moruya. I was booked to go
out on the Batemans Bay pelagic today but it was cancelled due to the weather.
I decided to head over to the coast anyway, and try for the BB Sand. Bob Rusk
put me in touch with Mike Crowley who I called last night for directions -
never having been to Tuross Lake before. Julienne and others, I can give you
directions to the lake if you don't know where it is. I left home at about
6.45am and, after a leisurely cooked breakfast in Moruya, reached Tuross Lake
at about 9.45am. You have to wade out, knee deep, a short distance onto the
sand/mud, but most of the time you are either on soft sand and samphire or only
ankle deep in water. There are birds everywhere! It is well worth going just
for the large numbers (maybe 1500-2000) of waders and terns. Mainly Red-necked
Stints, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Curlew Sandpipers and Bar-tailed Godwits, but
also smaller numbers of Red-capped Plovers and Rud
dy
Turnstones. Also at least 2 Sanderling, about 6 Pacific Golden Plover, 2
Curlew, about 10 Lesser Knot, a few Pied Oystercatcher and Masked Lapwing, 1
Tattler and, of course, 1 Broad-billed Sandpiper :) It is not easy to find - I
spent about two hours scrutinising every stint, and was beginning to give up
hope when I finally located it. I was somehow expecting the double supercilium
to be the obvious feature, but it's not - in fact it is fairly indistinct on
this bird in non-breeding plumage. It is the bill that is the striking feature
- a straight thick black bill that droops at the end. It is slightly larger
than the stints and perhaps slightly paler. Quite distinct once you actually
locate it. Caspian, Crested, White-fronted, Little and Fairy Terns add to the
fun, plus cormorants, pelicans, swans and Silver Gulls. You can get quite
close to the birds - a scope is obviously still desirable, but you can see
pretty well just with binos.
On the way back I spent a couple of hours at Monga NP where I walked from the
Dasyurus Picnic Area - highlights were my first Cicadabirds of the spring and
Bassian Thrush.
Regards
Frank Antram
-----Original message-----
From: "kamprad"
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:05:23 +1000
To: "Sharon Rusk" "COG"
Subject: Broad-Billed Sandpiper
> Bob
> Do you where the Broad-billed Sandpiper was/is?
> Cheers Julienne
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