A short drive around the Corner (3)

[Martin Butterfield <>]

Thanks Geoffrey.  The Great Knot is an addition to the Mallacoota list for October.

We went down to the Point on Monday afternoon and the waders were much closer than they have been recently.  There were rather more Godwits than you recorded, plus 12 Little Terns and 1 Whiskered Tern among the 510 Crested Terns.

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

On Thu, 24 Oct 2019 at 10:31, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

To the Corner, indeed.  On Saturday, I drove from Rosebud to Mallacoota, a drive enlivened by the curious by-passes decreed by my navigation device. One of these brought me up suddenly alongside the looming gothic bulk of a huge steaming power station at North Yallourn. Martin, whose company I had briefly on Sunday, had suggested as a site for waders the view from the grassy point near the vast council caravan park. I spent a couple of hours there on the Saturday afternoon and early the next morning. There was much of interest although the distances were rather extreme, and the foraging shorebirds were uncomfortably backlit by the morning sun.  Perhaps of most interest was what I took to be a Great Knot among its smaller relatives.  This is indicated by arrows in the below.   In the extreme distance, beyond reach of the naked eye, were 2 birds I have placed in the yellow-rimmed inset below. I am reluctant to even mention my guess here.  They were feeding some distance from the tightly flocking Red Knot. For Martin I offer the following tally, drawing in part on photos:  Red Knot 32, Great Knot 1, Bar-t Godwits 12, R-n Stints 11, F-e Curlew 1, R-cap Dott 1.