Hi All,
Reporting on a session on the Caloundra Sandbanks (SEQld) yesterday - Jill
Dening & Barb Dickson.
There was a minimum of 5000 terns, and as usual they lifted a couple of
times during the count. In the end I gave up on an actual head count. The
counter got to 2878, but there was too much relocation then to get an
accurate count. Almost all the Little Terns disappeared to parts unknown
whilst we were busy counting. Note that this was between 3pm and 5pm, and
there would have been many more terns still to arrive home after fishing at
sea during the day.
There were at least 71 White-winged Black Terns, the majority being
immatures. I am not experienced with WWBT plumage at this time of year, but
have checked HANZAB before making this assertion. There were probably many
more WWBT present, but once they turned head on to us and crouched against
the wind, I was unable to be sure of ID.
Little Terns, say about 15% of the total, being 750.
Common Terns, say the remainder, being 4180.
Ah yes, also about 10 Crested Terns. They all seem to have gone off to breed.
There were heaps of waders, but I had no time to check their numbers - too
busy with terns.
There were 3 COMMON TERNS sporting ORANGE LEG FLAGS. I'd like to know more
about this, if anyone in Victoria can fill me in. Are they being banded all
the time, and where? Linda Cross, could you please take this as a flag
sighting report and forward to the appropriate point?
Cheers,
Jill
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Qld
26º 51' 152º 56'
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)
|
