Yes, there were squillions of Great Egrets too. There was bird poo in a
straight line along each river bank, and all day there was a line-up of
birds along the banks. Young night herons were out fishing at any time
of day, but they came down out of the trees in bigger numbers towards
the end of the day. They seemed to have no fear. We sat in the dying
light of day having our evening drink, and they wandered just a few
metres from us along the banks, totally absorbed with what was going on
under the surface.
Actually, I was wondering about the fish. I know next to nothing about
fish, but when we were there, I did notice that the fish being caught
were all of the same species and all the same size. I'm sure there were
bigger fish (goodness knows what species) there, because fishermen were
around, too. But I wondered whether the fish the birds were consuming in
great quantities were all full-sized fish or whether the fish were all
of the same size because they are all the same age as a result of a mass
breeding event. If they do grow bigger, there would come a point at
which the fish would be too big for the birds to swallow, and that would
drive them in search of a different food source.
Does anyone know the answer to this fish question?
Cheers,
Jill
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51' 41"S 152° 56' 00"E
On 2/10/2011 10:13 AM, John Walter wrote:
Hi Jill,
The Wilson River was still a wondrous sight mid September when we spent 2
days just watching the action. As you said thousands and hundreds of birds,
which must suggest millions of fish!! I would add Great Egrets there as well
in big numbers.
John and Ruth Walter
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Jill Dening
Sent: Saturday, 1 October 2011 9:52 PM
To:
Cc: Birding Aus
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Bribie Island notes - October 1st 2011
Trevor,
An amazing sighting for the Sunshine Coast!
If I hadn't been in South-west Queensland recently, I would have thought
you'd been on the turps this evening. Well, maybe you were, but your
sighting follows what I saw at the Wilson River at Noccundra in late
August. There were herons everywhere - White-necked, Nankeen Night
Herons, and Darters by the bucketload. Cormorants, Pelicans, they were
all there in hundreds and thousands. And a lot of them were immatures.
They were catching fish like crazy. The weather has warmed up quite a
lot since then, or maybe the abundant fish supply has dropped off and
caused them to migrate coastwards. I'm sure Noccundra wasn't the only
place hosting such large gatherings of water birds. And as it dries up
out west, the birds will be looking for fresh pastures.
Cheers,
Jill
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51' 41"S 152° 56' 00"E
On 1/10/2011 9:00 PM, Trevor Ford wrote:
G'day,
A few notes on recent sightings on Bribie Island, some 50 km north of
Brisbane, Qld.
Today, October 1st, I was driving towards the Kakadu Beach shorebird
roost when I noticed a distant flock of birds over the road ahead. They
were circling, so unlikely to be the Topknot Pigeons that Bribie has
been hosting recently. I drove quickly towards them and, as I got
closer, thought they were going to turn out to be Little Black
Cormorants - but when I hopped out of the car for a better look I
realised that they were Australasian Darters, all 85 of them! It was an
amazing sight, watching them circling overhead; I don't think that I've
ever seen more than four together on Bribie Island previously. There
were very strong westerly winds blowing all morning - could this have
been responsible for the influx? Any other recent reports of such
numbers from coastal SEQ?
Buckley's Hole later held 16 Australasian Darters, by far the most I've
heard of occurring there together. In the past few days at Buckley's
Hole there have been 14 Nankeen Night Herons (all present in the same
tree yesterday), 4 White-necked Herons, a Latham's Snipe, 2 Comb-crested
Jacanas, 9 Wandering Whistling Ducks, etc., etc. Further to the recent
postings on egret identification, there are currently 5-10 individuals
each of Little, Intermediate and Great Egrets, often next to each other
and affording great comparison opportunities. The free comparison sheet
of egrets and cormorants, featuring photographs taken by Bob Inglis,
could prove useful.
There are now plenty of shorebirds roosting at Kakadu Beach but no sign
today or yesterday of the Broad-billed Sandpiper of a week or so ago.
There are, however, at least 28 Red Knots, with several in breeding
plumage, as are several of the 100+ Great Knots. Of the 1500+ Bar-tailed
Godwits, several were immature birds (probably 10+ but difficult to
count accurately when they're huddled together in gale-force winds and
braving the resultant sand storm). I understand that this is quite an
early date for immature godwits to appear here.
Cheers - Trevor Ford.
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