|
I
guess that is an extract from the CBN on-line. A great facility by the way. On
which I would comment some things. A typo on Maria's name (it should be
Lukacs) is in the original. A more consistent little problem as shown here is
that this facility often strangely gets the punctuation wrong when extracted. I
have noticed this before. Mostly it doesn't matter too much. E.g. below, note
the hyphen missing in Sharptailed
Sandpiper and the . instead of a , in HANZAB illustrator. would . The original text was
correct. Maybe this is a problem in the scanner or character recognition
software or whatever. I don't know. It is still a very worthwhile
facility...........
It is
- let's be tolerant and say curious - as to the comment about Even though none of the
observers was an experienced
wader-watcher and I wonder who they are to
make and publish that claim and based on what and how they define the term
and why they saw fit to mention this and how they thought it was a useful
comment. I can say without commenting on anyone else, that I had participated
significantly in the Westernport Bay wader surveys and the wader surveys around
SE Qld for many years before that. And yes it is true that there are several
people far more experienced in wader id than me and but I object to this
description and the manner in which it was made. I had seen at least many
hundreds of Red Knots before. True I had not seen a lot of Red Knots in the
recent years up till that point in time (due to living in Canberra). So for that
reason took notes of the bird to remind myself and be
confident.
While
we are at it, were they really suggesting that the Sanderling & Grey
Plover are more common than the Red Knot? Surely
not.
I know
Maria and I saw it together (actually I think she saw it before me) and I think
we were leaving when David and / or Harvey arrived and we went back to look at
it with them. I don't know now whether Peter Marsack and Bob Rusk saw it
earlier, later, separately or whatever........
Philip
Yep, I too remember standing on the bank of the pond
with Philip, Maria, and David; though I don't know that I can claim to have
found the bird independently - I have a vague feeling that David may have
alerted me to its presence. Peter Marsack and Bob Rusk (see excerpt below from
Rarities Panel News from Canberra Bird Notes Vol 25 (1) from March 2000) must
have seen the bird independently of us. (Incidentally, I bumped into Bob
totally unexpectedly at the Warden Head lighthouse at Ulladulla last
Saturday - great to see you again Bob, and catch up
briefly).
The knot was on a patch of mud in the SE corner of pond
No. 1. The water level is rarely that low (I can only recall seeing exposed mud
in that corner once again since then) so it really was a very lucky pick-up.
Red Knot Calidris canutus
1; 7 Nov 99; M Lucaks, D
McDonald, P Marsack, H Perkins, B Rusk, P
Veerman; Jerrabomberra Sewage Ponds.
Two Unusual Bird Report Forms for the Red Knot were received by the Panel, based on the observations of six COG members of a wader seen at the Jerrabomberra Sewage Ponds on 7 November 1999. The reports were both consistent and complementary, fully detailed, and were supplemented by sketches. That by Peter Marsack, the well-known HANZAB illustrator. would have been sufficient in itself to have identified the subject bird as a Red Knot. Reasons were advanced to exclude more common wading birds such as the
Sharptailed Sandpiper, Sanderling,
Grey Plover and Latham's Snipe. Even
though none of the observers was an experienced wader-watcher, the
quality of the two reports was sufficient
to convince the Panel of the veracity of
the sighting. Well done, all!
Harvey
Perkins
CRC Selection Rounds Section
_______________________________________
Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and
Research
Hi
Geoffrey,
Curious old news. Yes I recall well the Red Knot that Maria and I
found at FSP and somewhat independently found by David McDonald and I think
Harvey Perkins. I don't think anyone got any photos of that bird. Quite
different to now. We got quite close to it and I drew a little field
sketch.......
Will
we ever get flocks of migrant waders here? We have had various other interesting
waders turn up singly like the (I think much harder to identify Long-toed
Stint).
Philip
It is now just on 11 years since the only record of a Red
Knot in the ACT, at the FSP. So far as I know, there has never been a
report of a Great Knot here. This does not mean people should stop
looking. Now would be a good time. As the books say, these species
often occur with godwits. A possible reason for the scarcity of knots is
that we get so few godwits here. Incidentally, the original – and perhaps
preferable – pronunciation of the name was “K’NOT ”, from the
voice.
*************************************************************************
The
information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments to it,
is intended
for the use of the addressee and is confidential. If you
are not the
intended recipient you must not use, disclose, read,
forward, copy or retain
any of the information. If you received this
e-mail in error, please
delete it and notify the sender by return
e-mail or telephone.
The Commonwealth does not warrant that any attachments are free
from
viruses or any other defects. You assume all liability for any
loss,
damage or other consequences which may arise from opening
or using the
attachments.
The security of emails transmitted in an unencrypted environment
cannot be
guaranteed. By forwarding or replying to this email, you
acknowledge and
accept these
risks.
*************************************************************************
-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3278 - Release Date:
11/25/10
| 