Hi everyone,
A quick look at the Cairns Esplanade today (8th Jan) found the Asian Dowitcher
which has been
present for at least 2 weeks, also of interest was a Cattle Egret, in partial
breeding plumage,
standing in the water looking lost but it gave a great comparison with the
Little, Intermediate and
Great Egrets which it was with. A good variety of waders were present with at
least 350 Whimbrel,
Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Eastern Curlew, Marsh Sandpiper, Common
Greenshank, Terek Sandpiper,
Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper,
Curlew Sandpiper,
Broad-billed Sandpiper (1), Pacific Golden Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater
Sand Plover, Masked
Lapwing. There was also Silver Gull, Little Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian
Tern, Crested Tern,
Striated Heron, White-faced Heron, Australian Pelican, Royal Spoonbill and
overhead White-rumped
Swiftlets and Welcome Swallows. As we were leaving a Collared Kingfisher
started to call.
Further afield yesterday (7th Jan.) there was hundreds of Fork-tailed Swifts
over the Daintree River
at the ferry crossing and 21 Barn Swallows at Newell Beach (north of Mossman).
Tenders have just been called to fill in a part of the southern area of the
Cairns Esplanade as part
of the redevelopment plans. This fill will be allowed to settle for 12-18months
before work begins
on making a swimming lagoon. This southern end is of less importance than the
rest of the esplanade
as previous developments have caused the area to become degraded and not much
good for feeding
waders. The rest of the Esplanade is to be incorporated into the development
with an emphasis on
preserving the wader feeding habitat aswell as promoting it as an important
part of the Trinity
Inlet. We will be watching to make sure the outcome is satisfactory for the
birds, birdwatchers and
education of the general public.
Cheers,
Keith & Lindsay Fisher
PO Box 2209, Cairns QLD 4870
(Far North Queensland, just below the pointy bit on the east coast of
Australia.)
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