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g'day all,
Yesterday, on an impulse I went to the west side of our Lake
Moondarra this afternoon to check out if any additional waders had
arrived.
First of all I went to the bay where Spring Ck
enters.
Plenty of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers,
Marsh Sandpipers, and about a dozen Black-tailed
Godwit
but NOT my previously reported Painted
Snipe (see Birding-Aus 7/9/00)
or Greenshanks and a
Red-necked Stint seen on 9/9/00
But at the next and larger bay to the South (which I call
Wide Bay) I located 2 Female Painted Snipe.
One had not quite attained full adult plumage.
Both birds were in water only 20 cms from the edge of the
lightly grassed shore.
They kept their eyes on me as I approached (slowly) to
within 25 meters when the adult resumed feeding for the 20 minutes
that I stayed.
Only the full adult bird fed all the time
but the immature which stayed alongside and fed for only a
minute.
The time 6.15pm AEST...about 3/4 hr before our
dusk.
The only other birds in the immediate vicinity were one
Black-fronted Dotterel and a few Aust Pratincole.
I have now seen the Painted Snipe 3 times this season and each
time they have been feeding on the virtually bare open shores of this part of
the lake....
These sightings apparently contradict habitat info from both
Hanzab (V2, p658) and the Field guides.
Hanzab "with rank emergent
tussocks of grass, sedges, rushes or reeds..etc"
S&D
"marsh with moderate cover"
P&K
"well vegetated shallows"
Morcombe "well vegetated with dense low
cover"
My previous observations were
7/9/00 9.30am - 2.30pm initially 5 birds then (2m + 1f )
with the BOCA tagalong group (not 2f=1m as previously reported)
9/9/00 9.30am -11.00am (1m ) (with John and Sue
O'Malley)
The warmer days (35-39 Cels this week) and the consequent high
evaporation rates has resulted in the shore edge moving out about 15
meters during the last month.
Regards, Bob Forsyth, Mount Isa, NW Qld.
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