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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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
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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
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
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