birding-aus

A Bird of Possible Twitching Interest

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: A Bird of Possible Twitching Interest
From: knightl <>
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 05:46:19 +1000
I was out photographing waders on the Thornside mudflats [Moreton Bay, SEQ] on Sunday when I came across the following bird which may prove to be of interest to some birders.

It was near a beached catamaran out from the mangroves on the "western" side of the beach [firm silt] on Queens Esplanade, in association with a couple of sand plovers [there were about a hundred greater & lesser sands spread over the flats]. It was the middle of the day, with a rising tide [still at least half out]. The birds were not particularly active, and further down the beach, the terek sands were lying down on the job.

I have four images of the bird in question from side on. It was a mousy brown on top and clear white underneath. It appears to be more slender than the adjacent lesser sand, with relatively long lemon-grey legs. It had a relatively horizontal posture, with a more gently curving head than the adjacent sand.

Of particular interest, it had a clear white neck ring running round the back and a narrow neck/breast band running around the front. It had a very pronounced long thick white supercilium that projected to the back of its head. The white supercilium merged with a white forehead and chin. It had brown ear coverts with a thin dark eye stripe that did not extend to its slender black bill. Its primaries appeared to be slightly longer than its tail, which was edged white.

I have posted three images on ozbirdpix, and the two responses I have had to the pictures so far have both been "kentish" [eastern race].

I have googled some pictures off the net, and the jizz of this bird is generally similar, bearing in mind that this bird is in non-breeding plumage.

Brisbane-based birdwatchers may wish to check it out.

Regards, Laurie.

--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU