Hi all,
I've just spent the day on Reef Island, a small nature reserve on the eastern
side of Westernport Bay (in Victoria). The island, a well known high tide roost
site for migratory waders, was teeming with interesting birds. What a great
place!
On the southern side of the island there was a small flock of Grey-tailed
Tattler roosting amongst mangroves, and on several rocky spits and sand beaches
on the north-west corner of the island were mixed flocks of hundreds of waders.
These included Greater and Lesser Sand Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, Ruddy
Turnstone, Greenshank, Eastern Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
and Red-necked Stint.
In all I recorded 31 species on the island, including Fairy Tern (may have been
nesting), Caspian Tern, Great Egret, White-face Heron, Royal Spoonbill, Sacred
Ibis, Australian Pelican Gannet, Black Swan, Grey Teal, Pied Oystercatcher,
Masked Lapwing, Red-capped Plover, Pied and Little Pied Cormorant, Great
Cormorant, Silver Gull, Pacific Gull, Pipit, White-fronted Chat, Goldfinch and
Singing Honeyeater. (Also of interest was a Dollarbird at nearby Yallock Creek).
A word of warning though, the island is cut off from the mainland during high
tide! When I arrived the water level was quite low, so I just walked out onto
the island. However, when I tried to return, I had wade back through chest
height water that was rising fast!
Cheers,
Tim Dolby
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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