Hi,
A WT at Boat Harbour, Kurnell, Sydney was reported on (our) Birdline about 3
weeks ago. Neil Fifer took a few photos of the bird which were published on
the Internet by Northside Birders, a small group established by Bruce Cox
covering Sydney's northern beaches. They came to Bruce with a ? but looked
promising. Through Neil, the photos were reviewed by someone in the USA,
representing bird records/rarities, who considered it to be a WT.
After missing out on the Franklin's Gull on Tuesday I went to Boat Harbour
with Bruce and spent time with the only tattler there under close
observation (60x mag at 15m). All of the visual features pointed to a WT
but the bird only flew with Ruddy Turnstones; they called and it didn't.
I had already referenced my set of BOC tapes for the WT call only to find
that it wasn't there! However, thereafter, I managed to borrow a tape of
the call; it's on Bird Calls of the Great Barrier Reef, from the Ray Swarby
memorial collection, but recorded by someone else in the USA.
Also borrowed HANSAB. All boned-up I went to Boat Harbour again today. Met
up with Bruce Rubin who, incidentally, had made the call to Birdline. He
had spoken to a local wader expert and was now less than 100% sure that it
was a WT (he'd even whited-out his tick).
Only one thing to do, try to isolate the bird and see if it would call.
Finally we managed that. The bird called when stationary and a few seconds
later, in flight, both times giving its characteristic "rippling trill of
6-10 accelerating notes, at the same pitch but decreasing in volume".
Much more fun than Christmas shopping.
Bob
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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