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Dear Birders,
I called in to Penrhyn Estuary on the northern side
of Botany Bay at lunchtime today as I was in the area on business. On the
beach on the bay side of the wharf were a couple of dozen bar tailed godwits, 6
curlew sandpipers, 2 red-capped dotterels and 3 knots. I took the
knots to be red knots given that they did not have streaked crowns and had
red on their breasts where the breeding plumage had not been completely
shed. The bill length appeared to be just a little longer than the head however
which caused me to wonder. Has anyone been there recently and seen them or is
there any other comment on the likelihood of them being red knots rather than
great knots.
At the head of the estuary were 10 lesser golden
plover, a turnstone assiduously inverting pebbles on the beach and a
tattler that flew before I had time to ascertain its species. In addition
there were the usual 3 species of cormorant, crested tern, pelican, silver
gull and white ibis.
Regards
Peter Marsh
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