Month: January 2012

Leg-flagged Curlew Sandpiper – follow-up

Thanks to those who have responded.

Shortly after sending my request I thought to try the magic of Google (should have thought of it sooner of course).

Up came the following: “Asia-Pacific Shorebird Network – Leg flags used on local flyways”

And there it was – black above white = “Chongmin-Dao”.

Where?

A: Chongmin-Dao [= Chongming Island, China]

Now, utilizing Wikipedia:

There are several islands of Shanghai governed by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai Shanghai city, including the three larger inhabited islands and a number of uninhabited ones. They are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluvial alluvial islands in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze_River_Delta Yangtze River Delta in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China.

Chongming Island lies against the northern shore of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze_River Yangtze River and is an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluvial alluvial island formed by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silt silt carried along the river. It gives the name to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongming_County Chongming County, the only county of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai Shanghai. It is the third largest island in China after http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Island Hainan Island and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan Taiwan.

I have now reported the sighting to mintons@ozemail.com.au as requested on the website.

Richard

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Leg-flagged Curlew Sandpiper

A Curlew Sandpiper at the Western Treatment Plant (Werribee, Vic) today was flagged with a black above white (or cream) flag on its right leg. Can anyone help me with the origin of this flag colour, please?

Richard NOWOTNY

Port Melbourne, Victoria

M: 0438 224 456

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Impact of climate change on pelagic birding

There are some interesting articles reporting rapidly rising temperatures in key ocean currents – scientists compared “five ocean currents that run along the east coasts of Africa, Japan, the USA, Brazil and Australia” and “that over the past century the water in the currents has warmed two to three times faster than the rest of the world’s oceans.” http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3418386.htm >

These temperature changes will affect the distribution of marine life and I suspect are likely to impinge on the distributions of pelagic bird species. It would be an interesting exercise to overlay species sightings with sea temperatures and to see how bird distributions change over time.

Perhaps a thesis topic for someone …

Regards, Laurie. ===============================

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Re-introduction of growd-dwelling native birdspecies to revegetated urban parkland

If the habitat is suitable and unnatural predators such as domestic cats and foxes are eliminated birds like White-browed Scrubwrens and Superb Fairy-wrens would probably make their own way to the site. Most birds, even poor fliers, can traverse areas of unsuitable habitat when migrating or dispersing. This often occurs at night.

Greg Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Wildlife Guide Coutts Crossing NSW

Re-introduction of growd-dwelling native bird species to revegetated urban parkland

Hi all,

I ‘m wondering if anyone is aware of any instances i.e. if there is any precedent for the re-introduction of native bird species to isolated revegetated native urban parkland?

In particularly I’m thinking about the reintroducing of ground-dwelling species such as Superb Fairy-wren and White-browed Scrubwren which, unlike arboreal species, are unable to migrate into revegetated parkland due to the lack of an existing native corridor – specifically when the revegetation process involves developing complex native shrubslands, perfect habitat for these species.

Cheers,

Tim Dolby

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Sooty vs Short-tailed and other ID discussions

Hi all,   Yes a great discussion and timely for me too, as I was sitting next to Nikolas on the way out on the weekend’s Wollongong pelagic and commented how the Port Stephens trips were going well…but that I was still not on top of the Sooty vs Short-tailed identification thing! It has always fascinated me how it seems to be something many observers take for granted but I have always grappled with it. Chris’s comments below make me feel a lot better! I have been on pelagics where some of the most experienced sea-birders around have argued the ID of a shearwater that was confidently called as “Sooty” or “Short-tailed”.   Unfortunately I didn’t see the bird in question but I do have to back-up what Nikolas said about flight pattern etc being important. Sometimes being there on the day can make all the difference and I think that the filtering-in-the-brain that Chris talks about is more likely to be confused by lighting than behavioual traits observed in situ. Maybe I’m wrong? Identifying from photos can be fraught with danger I guess is my point (not always, but I’ve seen numerous birds misidentified in images, especially Jaegers and Terns). I’m just not sure if I would agree that photos provide an unbiased view but I know what you mean by that Chris. But often any comparisons can be useful, even if the birds aren’t necessarily very similar.   Currently a few of us are sorting out Swifts and Swiftlets from Christmas Island and I have to say that although it is a daunting group, being in a situation where there are clearly ‘different’ species above you flying around, having the luxury of comparing relative sizes and flight patterns etc gives a big headstart, ahead of what can often be picked up in photographs of birds like that.   Mick

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?NIGHTJARS OVER MELBOURNE TENNIS = Silver Gulls

Dave! Were you really NOT watching the tennis and seeing those Silver Gulls flying around and their feathers floating down onto the court!

That Roger thought they may be Nightjars is welcome upgrade from the common belief that a bird active at night must be an Owl or a Night Parrot!

Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136

nightjars at the tennis

Roger the only birds I saw hawking over Rod Laver Arena were Silver Gulls, and they were present in large numbers each night. No species of nightjar occurs in suburban or urban Melbourne. Owlet Nightjars are entirely different birds – small and delicate, not strong fliers and do not fly high.

Peter Menkhorst ===============================

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