A few months ago I asked a couple of questions concerning the roosting
behaviour of Eastern Curlews and Bar-tailed Godwits at my local roost site
on Bribie Island, Queensland. Many thanks for all of the replies - some
extremely informative and helpful. Hopefully, someone out there has an
answer to this next query.
Between September 1997 and mid January 1998 any high tide of 2.35 metres or
higher would see godwits arrive at this roost site - in their thousands!
Then, for no apparent reason, they just stopped coming in such numbers; even
on tides of well over 2.5 metres there were just a few (and often none at
all). Only yesterday and today, on high tides of over 2.6 metres did they
re-appear in good numbers. What's the reason for this?
My only suggestion is that they may be starting to conserve energy
before their migration and are prepared to get their bellies wet (or roost
closer to the nearby road than they normally would) at their other,
preferred, roosting site on the mainland - the godwits normally congregate
at this site on a rising tide before making the flight across to Bribie
Island when it gets inundated. Perhaps every little bit counts at this
time!
Note that during this time Eastern Curlews maintained numbers of between 500
and 800 at the Bribie Island roost, except for on the smallest of high
tides.
Regards - Trevor.
|
