A big tern day at the Western Treatment Plant (Werribee, Vic) today (with John and Shirley Tongue and family):
Caspian, Crested, Common, Whiskered, White-winged Black, Little, Fairy.
[I suspect there aren’t too many individual sites around the world where one can see 7 tern species in a day.]
Other good birds today included Great Knot, Pacific Golden Plover, Lewin’s Rail, Banded Stilt, Banded Lapwing, White-necked Heron and that remarkable number of Freckled Duck at Walsh’s Lagoon (estimated, on the wing, at well over 50).
Richard Nowotny
Port Melbourne, Victoria
M: 0438 224 456
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My best for Flat Rock, Ballina NSW, at the same time is only 6. Black & Common Noddy, White-winged Black, Little, Common & Crested Tern. But in recent years I’ve also seen Gull-billed, Whiskered, Sooty, Bridled, & White-fronted at Flat Rock, plus Caspian in the river at Ballina, that makes 12. I believe historically Arctic, Lesser Crested & Grey Ternlet have also been recorded in Ballina. I imagine Roseate & Black-naped would be likely vagrants & White & Fairy Tern not out of the question for here as well.
Cheers, Steve McBride Ballina
Recently, Common, Black & Lesser Noddy, Bridled, Sooty, Little, Australian & Asiatic Gull-billed, White-winged Black, Roseate, Common & Crested Tern were seen in the same day at Ashmore Reef . In my book that’s 12 species of tern! At other times Lesser Crested & Whiskered Tern have been seen there. Whilst talking of numbers of terns, yesterday, during a survey at Melbourne Water’s Eastern Treatment Plant near Carrum, Victoria, a compact flying flock of Whiskered Terns was estimated by the each of the four counters to contain 90, 105, 120 & 125 birds. A photograph revealed the actual number was 192. To avoid sending a second email I should add that other species in large numbers on that Plant yesterday were >3,000 Coot, >2,300 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, >2,000 Grey Teal, >1,200 Pink-eared Ducks, 80 Freckled Ducks & 34 Glossy Ibis. I’m still collating the numbers! But only one Pectoral Sandpiper (that we found)!
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
Best I can come up with is 9 in a single day on Lady Elliot Island (Dec 5 2010)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S8228883
Cheers Mat
* * Mat & Cathy Gilfedder Wildlife photography pbase.com/gilfedder ===============================
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Hello all,
Sorry that I’ve been very very quiet for the last few weeks – I have had no computer!! Hopefully I haven’t lost everything on it!!!!!
Well, after going through 10 pages of Hotmail on my good friend’s laptop this morning, this tern post has got me going through my Michaelmas Cay notes….. I can gladly communicate that on one recent summer day trip with Seastar I’ve been fortunate to record the following tern! tern! tern! species at the Cay: Black Noddy, Common Noddy, Common Tern, Roseate Tern, Crested Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Black-naped Tern, Little Tern, Sooty Tern, Bridled Tern.
Further regular highlights as others have mentioned at Michaelmas in summer are the 2 Frigatebirds, occasional Red-footed Boobies, & Wandering Tattlers (with Grey-tailed)…
On the Cairns Esplanade, my record for tern species on a single day included the following species one early wet season day: Gull-billed Tern (both the Aust race & the Asian affinis), Caspian Tern, Crested Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Common Tern, Little Tern, White-winged Black Tern. One could also come across Whiskered Tern there & possibly one or more of the reef specialsits if you were extremely lucky during the wet as well!!
There you go Allan, for some more input from Cairns as a tern hot spot…!!
Cheers,
Martin Cachard,
Cairns,
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Gee Lozza, Spoilt sport
but you do make a good point about what defines a site. As for the size of the WTP, Melbourne Water publications state that it is approximately the same size as Malta. From memory, that makes it larger than Cocos Island.
Yours in all things “Green”
John Harris Owner – Wildlife Experiences 0409090955
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Thanks for that Richard. Your post raises an interesting question as to what is a birding site? Is the WTP a birding site, a series of birding sites or a birding precinct?
There is clearly a question of scale involved. Where do you draw the line for a site? Is it the limit of sight at a defined point? I would have thought the Borrow Pits would constitute a site. The WTP would have to contain a dozen or more birding sites. Perhaps it is comparable in size to the Cocos Islands.
Regards, Laurie.
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Hi, We went out to Michaelmas Cay with Seastar on the 15th November while up in Cairns to view the eclipse. We too were taken around the cay in the Dinghy & had great views of two Greater Frigate birds, Brown Boobies, Common Noddies,Brindled, Black-naped, Sooty, Crested & Lesser-Crested Terns as well as a lone Ruddy Turnstone The snorkelling was lovely too, especially at Hastings Reef. Cattana wetlands were great too. We managed a late afternoon visit & spotted 2 White-browed Crake, several pairs of Green Pygmy Geese and 3 Comb-Crested Jacana and a Glossy Ibis. A quick middle of the day visit picked up the Crimson Finch I was determined to find [this time my family stayed in the air-conditioned car!]. From Jenny Stiles
P.S. Cairns Esplanade was terrific too.
Hi All I had the same experience at Michaelmas Cay but went on a big tourist cat and only got Bridled Terns while approaching the Cay, then Common Noddy, Sooty, Crested, Lesser Crested Terns with Brown Booby and Silver Gull on the sandspit. I picked up Black- napped Tern and Little Tern at Green Island along with a young Osprey chomping away at a piece of fish. Agree about Cattana Wetlands too. I just went for a reccie, not expecting much but stayed for four hours and picked up Nutmeg Mannikin there with some great close-ups of male and female Crimson Finches. Great water birds there and I wished I had gone earlier or later to have a look for crakes and rails. The place will be huge by the time they finish the work around the new ponds.
Cheers Chris
Christine Melrose
cmelrose099@gmail.com +61 407705140
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My exact same experience Graeme. Knowing that I was a birder, and due to asthma not able to do the 20min scuba dive everybody else was doing, I was taken around the cay also by dinghy. Got some close views and photos of Greater Frigatebird and Brown Booby roosting on a washed-up tree at the southern end of the cay and a Wandering Tattlers on the rocks on the seaward side.
As you said, a “must do” for anyone visiting Cairns
Yours in all things “Green”
John Harris Owner – Wildlife Experiences 0409090955
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G’Day John, Got exactly the same list as yourself very recently (18th November) but couldn’t get beyond the 6!
As most will know who have visited recently, access on the Cay is very necessarily constrained to a small strip of beach. I went out with “Seastar” (no commercial interest declared) and was the only birder aboard.
The skipper was extremely obliging however – and interested – and with a favourable tide, took me slowly right around the Cay by dinghy. Apart from excellent views of nesting Brown Booby, perched Frigates etc etc I may have missed the Black-naped Terns had he not been so helpful.
So, for anyone heading out there, and it’s probably a “must-do” while in Cairns, I would certainly recommend “Seastar” or at least an enquiry whether a quiet motor around the Cay can be on the agenda.
BTW – also spent two sessions at the comparatively new Cattana Wetlands – great spot and will only get better.
Best Graeme Stevens
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Now that you mention it Allan, I would think that Michaelmas Cay would come close… When I visited there in 2000, I recorded Crested, Lesser Crested, Sooty, Bridled, Black-naped, and Common Noddy. I believe that Roseate and Black Noddy are also recorded there, may be others as well.
By the way, I’m a Victorian
Yours in all things “Green”
John Harris Owner – Wildlife Experiences 0409090955
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Hi again,
Too true that our recent Arctic Tern is a rare commodity around here not to mention the tropical blow-ins that come through from time to time.
This highlights the fact that Newcastle is a transit location for a number of species.
I’m expecting that someone from SE Qld, SW Aus, Cairns, or Broome for that matter, will chime with a tern mix, possibly including Roseate, Bridled and Lesser Crested to make up the numbers of an impressive tern score.
Regards,
Allan
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HI Guys,
There is another tern hotspot and it’s in Australia – Newcastle in fact – who’d a thunk it!
Recently we had the privilege of having five tern species before us (Crested, Common, White-fronted, Little and Arctic) on the rock shelf behind Newcastle Ocean Baths, while just 20 minutes by road (5 km as the tern flies) at Stockton Sandspit, in the Hunter River estuary, we had a further 4 species (Caspian, Gull-billed, White-winged Black and Whiskered). A total of nine species easily viewable within an hour or so.
Furthermore, just recently, we also had Sooty Tern on a pelagic trip off Port Stephens a little to the north, but we’ve also had White Tern earlier in the year and our waters, and the Newcastle rock shelf, is occasionally visited by Common Noddy.
Late October was certainly an exceptional time for us, likely a function of birds moving through. Although, it does highlight the importance of east coast estuarine and rock-shelf habitats as important stopover points for migratory birds in our flyway.
As many others seem to be voicing on our forums, we are finding our migratory bird habitats here in the Hunter are under increased pressure from the community at these sites, more often than not from a lack of information about their importance.
It has been our challenge here to find solutions that will accommodate the birds while including the community, and I’m pleased to say that we have a tireless group here that are working toward doing just that.
Happy terning,
Allan Richardson Morisset NSW
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G’day Richard
I immediately thought of Port Isabel, Texas where I had a great tern day a few years ago. I’ve just checked and I saw only 6 tern species (Gull-billed, Caspian Royal, Cabot’s, Least and Forster’s). Other tern species are to be found there so I reckon it is a good candidate for a global tern hotspot.
I went on a boat with Scarlet Colley (http://www.fin2feather.com/) for a three hour birding trip and we also saw such birds as Great Northern Loon, Northern Crested Caracara, Long-billed Curlew, Willet, Dunlin, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, Black Skimmer and Mangrove Warbler. Lots of dolphins too.
Cheers Steve
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