Great result Lori and well done to all involved. A rewarding outcome and lots of potentially useful information to come no doubt.
Regards
Alison
From: Lori Gould
[
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2016 4:25 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] FW: Snipe Catching At Jerra Update
From: Lori Gould
Sent: Wednesday, 30 November 2016 3:12 PM
Subject: Snipe Catching At Jerra Update
Hi All,
This week has been the first time that Latham’s Snipe have been caught in Canberra.
With the help from experienced experts from Victoria – Birgita Hansen and Richard Chamberlain (who have been catching Snipe for over a year now in Victoria and Japan), it was decided that Kelly’s Swamp offered the best
prospects in terms of bird numbers and habitat. We also used data from local ‘birdos’ Alastair and Milburn, who have been surveying the Wetlands every week - this feeds into the broader ACT Snipe surveys that many of you have been helping with. We also had
a good look at the Peninsula and the paleo channel areas (near the Lake and Molonglo River) but the birds were very dispersed, and there were cattle and a large number of fruit bats which would have played havoc with the nets.
On Monday night, we set up 4 mist nets in Kelly’s in front of the Snipe bird screen (ironically) on Monday night. We left the nets closed and returned at 4am to open them up. Most birds left the site at dusk to forage
in other parts of the Wetlands and returned pre-dawn to roost for the day. We opened the nets prior to their return. On Tuesday morning we caught one Snipe which we were very happy with given all the unknowns.
Upon advice from our wonderful bird surveyors (and our observations) we decided to set up 6 nets in the backwaters of Kelly’s last night. There were approximately 30 Snipe seen / flushed and heard in the vicinity by Richard
(an amazing Snipe spotter), which is more Snipe than we realized we had. It is not until you get thigh deep in waders that you can really gain an understanding of just how important the habitat at Kelly’s Swamp is for these birds (although many of our long
term birders have probably already known that).
This morning we again headed out to the Wetlands at 4am to repeat the process, and caught 5 Snipe including one juvenile which is unusual and exciting.
All the birds weighed less than 165 grams, which is our minimum weight for attaching satellite transmitters, so in the interests of bird welfare we decided not to do so at this stage. All the birds were weighed, measured,
had leg bands and flags attached (orange flags starting with R or H), had a tiny amount of blood removed for genetic testing at a later date, and were released unharmed. All the birds were observed flying back into Kelly’s Swamp except for one which headed
towards the Billabong. This information adds to the significant database of Snipe between Victoria, Canberra and Japan.
Based on the Victorian experience, it is thought that the birds will put on more weight over the next month, and now that we are confident of catching them, we have decided to return in 3-5 weeks to repeat the process.
A few of the birds were getting close to minimum weight (eg. one was 163g) but as bird welfare is paramount, we are very strict on ensuring they are heavy enough to tolerate a 5g tracker.
The ABC TV were with us all morning, as was Mark – one of our own photographers (who survived the night up to his thighs in smelly mud, swarmed by a million bugs and totally sleep deprived). A story will ensue – I will
let you know when as soon as I am advised when this may be. We were also accompanied by three of our very own ‘Young Rangers’ – Kelly (10), Olivia (12) and Connor (13) – who were out both nights and completely committed to the cause. Apparently the excitement
outweighed any discomfort. There were only a couple of cases of misjudged steps, wader filling incidents, and bug swallowing.
Overall we are extremely pleased with the progress we are making with this challenging project, and are very appreciative of the efforts of Birgita and Richard (we absolutely couldn’t do it without them), and all the
other helpers and supporters involved with this project including the ACT Government and Woodlands and Wetlands Trust who are funding the project. You are all welcome to come along to observe or help for our next efforts in early January and feel free to get
in touch with me directly if you have any queries.
Hopefully between us all we can find out more about this charismatic yet elusive little bird, with a view to conserving critical habitat into the long term future.
Cheers Lori
Lori Gould
Program Manager
Woodlands and Wetlands Trust (Jerrabomberra Wetlands)
M: 0439030058
PO Box 58 Fyshwick ACT 2609
www.woodlandsandwetlands.org.au
