Hi everyone,
A report on the Lytton-Wynnum Wader Identification Day appears below,
prepared by Arthur & Sheryl Keates.
Linda Cross
QWSG
Lytton-Wynnum Wader Identification Day
1 October 2000
As a follow up to the Queensland Wader Study Group?s wader
identification day at Toorbul, eighteen wader enthusiasts met at the
Lytton roost at 11 am. High tide was 2.13m at 11:44 am, so the birds had
been pushed off the feeding grounds and had already arrived at the roost
site.
Observers had very good views of twelve species of waders at the site,
totalling 1234 birds. Of most interest was the flock of 300+ Red Knots
marching like soldier crabs as they actively fed while most birds slept
and loafed around them. Among them was one with an orange leg flag on
its upper right leg indicating it had been banded in Victoria. The bird
had some smudges of the stunning brick red breeding plumage on the under
belly.
A group of 125 Black-tailed Godwits gave us a good comparison with the
more common Bar-tailed Godwit, one of which sported one of the group?s
own green leg flags.
Unusually, no Grey-tailed Tattlers were seen at the roost site, where it
is not uncommon to see over 300 Grey-tailed Tattlers roosting among the
dead mangroves. Nor were any Great Knot seen, another species usually
recorded at the roost site. Also of interest was the fact that only one
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was seen although 40+ were later seen at Wynnum.
After two hours at the site, we moved on to Wynnum where we had lunch as
we waited for the tide to recede. Six wader species not recorded at the
roost site were observed feeding, including two Great Knots with green
leg flags and a Pied Oystercatcher with a metal band on its lower right
leg.
We hope other participants enjoyed the day as much as we did. Following
is a list of species of waders, waterbirds and raptors recorded (numbers
indicate the birds seen at the roost site)-
Chestnut Teal (30), Grey Teal (12), Little Pied Cormorant, Little Black
Cormorant, Australian Pelican, White-faced Heron, Great Egret, Little
Egret, Striated Heron, Australian White Ibis (1), Royal Spoonbill (13),
Osprey, Whistling Kite (1), Brahminy Kite, Black-tailed Godwit (125),
Bar-tailed Godwit (400), Whimbrel (187), Eastern Curlew (73), Marsh
Sandpiper (5), Common Greenshank(18), Terek Sandpiper, Grey-tailed
Tattler, Ruddy Turnstone, Great Knot, Red Knot (385), Sharp-tailed
Sandpiper (1), Curlew Sandpiper (5), Pied Oystercatcher, Black-winged
Stilt, Pacific Golden Plover (3), Lesser Sand Plover, Masked Lapwing
(12), Silver Gull (1) and Caspian Tern (2).
Arthur and Sheryl Keates
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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