SIPO seen in Brisbane

The SIPO was seen at the usual place by three people (+ a curious non-birder) on Sunday 5th June: on the rocks close to the embankment opposite No. 21 Orana Esplanade, Point Halloran. A flock of about 30 oystercatchers flew in a little more than 2 hours before high tide from mudflats further out (which went under water shortly after). As they landed we noticed a couple with a large dog walking towards the birds on the narrow strip of sand. The birds began walking away and it was clear they would have flown if the dog got closer. I asked the people if they would walk on the footpath instead and they obliged. Activity there, even though close, doesn’t seem to bother the oystercatchers. We very soon identified the SIPO among them. We were there for about 15 minutes. The previous time I was there they flew off after half an hour. Jim Sneddon

Subject: No SIPO seen in Brisbane From: “Peter Marsh” Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:36:17 +1000 Dear Birders, I had a look for the SIPO that had been reported at Victoria Point on Moreton Bay in Brisbane over the last month or so. I spent a good part of the day around Orana Esplanade. I arrived as the tide was going out in calm and slightly overcast conditions. There were a number of Pied Oystercatchers on the exposed mud as well as Grey Tailed tattler, Whimbrel, bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Pelican, gull billed Tern and a variety of other birds. When the tide turned the birds were driven back into a concentrated flock with a maximum of 54 Pied Oystercatchers. I did not see any bird that looked convincingly different from the others to be picked as a SIPO. Eventually all the birds flew and there did not appear to be any bird with more extensive white on the underwing.

I had heard that the POs roost on the rock wall beside the Coochiemudlo ferry at the end of Victoria Point so I went around there to look. There were no birds on the rock wall which was not surprising as there was a fisherman on the end of the wall. As I watched a single PO flew in as though it was proposing to land on the rock wall, at the last moment it turned and flew off exposing very briefly, and by now in gathering dusk, what appeared to be more white on the underwing than the other POs had shown. This was a very brief view in poor conditions but I suspect that it is possible that the SIPO is still around but not always with the other POs.

As a side issue I would comment that an advantage of Birding-Aus over other bird sighting websites is that it allows recordal of non-sightings. Is the fact that there have been no recent sightings of the SIPO because no-one has gone to look or is it because they went to look, didn’t see the bird but failed to report that. Regards Peter ===============================

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