Here is a report that Lainie Berry has sent me for birding-aus. It was
written on the 18th October, so I must apologize for the delay.
Merrilyn
Hi everyone
It's Lainie Berry via Merrilyn Serong. I'm down in Tassie for 4 months
doing research and thought I'd send in an update every now and then. I'm
studying the breeding success of shoreline-nesting birds, mainly Hooded
Plovers and Pied Oystercatchers on the beaches of Mt William National
Park. The season has just started, I'm finding loads of nests already,
but I'd like to share some other bird-related highlights first:
- watching Blue-winged Parrots feeding on my front lawn
- Australasian Gannets doing suicidal plunges from what seems like 100m
in the air into the sea
- the flame robins foraging on the ground; the males are so bright and
colourful they look to me like little orange exclamation marks
- my first Tassie Devil; alive, not squashed on the road (not birding
related but still pretty exciting). It was eating a dead wallaby on the
road.
-dozens and dozens of Ruddy Turnstones and Red-necked Stints on the
beaches. The locals all seem to call the RNS's "Mrs McCaffys Chickens"
or something.
-watching Pacific Gulls drop shells from high in the air to break them
Incidentally, what is the latest on the Kelp Gull expansion? According
to my Pizzey and Knight, Kelps have reached about halfway up the east
coast of Tassie. But here (far north-east) there are both Kelps and
Pacifics.
That will do for now. Hopefully I'll send a few more reports in as time
goes.
Cheers,
Lainie Berry
Eddystone Point, Tasmania
PS If anyone wants to reply to Lainie, I can send it on to her in
Tassie.
Up to 13 November Lainie had found 65 nests along 20 km of beach.
Merrilyn.
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