Hi all
I popped out to the WTP yesterday morning to look for the Little
Stint. There were fewer birders than last week - and sadly, fewer
Little Stints!
Nobody I spoke to saw it yesterday, and to my knowledge it hasn't been
seen since Tues 22nd, and possibly since last Sunday (20th).
I did see a stint with an obvious reddish head - but only from a
distance of almost 100m. A group of very experienced Geelong Field
Nats birders called it as breeding plumaged Red-necked Stint, and
their Canadian friend (who knows breeding Little Stint very well)
agreed with this ID. It was a bit of a heart-starter, seeing a stint
with reddish colouring over most of the face and head - but the extent
of the colouring, and the greyer centres to feathers on the back both
indicated RNS according to my hide companions who had much better
optics (and experience) than me! Also, and I had to concur on this as
well, this bird looked as big as the biggest of the RNS's on the same
patch of sand, and it's movements were exactly the same as the birds
around it.
Any theories on the Little Stint? Moved on to another part of the
WTP? Left the district completely (to where)? Eaten by one of the many
birds of prey we saw yesterday?
Our northern Victorian friends might like to have a look around Lake
Murphy over the next few weeks - there was a suggestion in the past
that some birds leaving Werribee go there as their first point of
call. Any comments?
Russell Woodford
Birding-Aus List Owner
Geelong Victoria Australia
http://www.birding-aus.org
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