Hi
Visited the edges of Moreton Bay in pursuit of waders on Wednesday
29.12.04 (Brisbane, SE Qld)
Started at Fisherman?s Island wader ?roost? ? there has been some work
done here and the fence has changed, but the end result is not obvious
as yet. Does anyone out there know what?s going on?
There were approx 450 Red-necked Stints on the sand along with a few
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Scanning through them via the ?scope I thought
I had a single Broad-billed Sand, but the flock flew before I could
positively ID it ? worth keeping an eye out for though. The usual
Pelicans, Chestnut and a few Grey Teal and, surprisingly only 6
Red-necked Avocets?
Headed back and, without stopping at the visitor centre, straight to the
Hope Island ponds. A few groups of Sharpies here ? hard to see in the
grass and low vegetation. One Red-necked Stint and a Black-fronted
Dotterel showed up. Quite a lot of water in here now, from the recent
rains so well worth calling in and scanning carefully ? no access
problems, ie fences, here at all.
I didn?t stop at the Wynnum North roost as there was a lot of water in
on the mud and little area for the usual Godwits. With the tide high at
11.10 I wanted to get to Manly Boat Harbour roost before it reached it?s
peak. I did, however, take time out to check the Gull population out
along the sea front as I went. (Does anyone regularly check through the
200 or so Silver Gulls that hang out here? Remember the Laughing Gull
was only a few kms away and I had a Kelp Gull in the early 80s out on
the mud.)
Accessed the roost in plenty of time, although the tide was already very
high and most of the birds were already present. Approx nos ? 2000
Bar-tailed Godwits, 300 Tattlers, 100 Great Knot, 80 Golden Plover, 100
Terrick Sands, 400 Lesser Sand Plovers, 300 Red-necked Stints mixed with
30 Curlew Sands and 2 Red Knot. 26 Caspian Terns and 124 Pied
Oystercatchers were (I thought) significant numbers of individual
species. Only a few (~10) Little Terns, about 30 Turnstone, 60 Curlew
and 80 Whimbrel. (These numbers are, I repeat, very approx, apart from
the C Terns and POs) I did not pick up any flags anywhere despite the
great views, very pleasant conditions in 27 degrees, no disturbance,
dogs etc, birds mostly awake and shuffling, as they do. Pretty sure
there were no ?oddities? - among the Godwits anyway and all the stints I
could spy had dark legs!
Happy New Year all.
--
Colin Reid
So many birds, so little time......
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