Hi All,
Yesterday I went paddling in Caloundra with Barb Dickson, with the objective of nailing all the birds on a full tide. We started at 4pm and started paddling back just after sunset before 6pm. We did get a surprise – a large number of Gull-billed Terns. Unfortunately we had no lights and had to paddle back in the last light of the day, whilst Crested Terns were still arriving from the sea.
Below is the list of all birds seen. We were trying to assess the Crested Tern population at present, having seen more than 1000 on the Maroochy sandbanks at 10am on Thursday, suggesting there would be more in the evening there. In Caloundra we counted 300 birds arriving, but there would have been more by the time they had all arrived.
Gull-billed Terns arrived from south in the passage, as did the Crested Terns. All birds arrived from south to their roost because the wind was a nor-nor-easterly. However, the Cresteds were arriving from the sea, and the Gullbills were arriving from further down the passage (which roughly lies north-south, and is 30km long). The Gullbills arrived in smallish groups of 5-40 over a couple of hours until they totalled 247. This is a very large number for our region. They were in all kinds of plumages. If we had been working from the shoreline, we would have had little hope of picking them out, but as we were near their roost, we saw it all. I just wonder if we have missed this in past years, or if this is truly unusual. We have never stayed on the water so late before.
> Survey_Date Location_Name Common_Name Sum Of Number_Seen > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Australian Pelican 10 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Bar-tailed Godwit 31 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Caspian Tern 3 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Crested Tern 300 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Curlew Sandpiper 24 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Eastern Curlew 38 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Little Egret 1 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Gull-billed Tern 247 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 White Ibis 54 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Little Black Cormorant 20 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Osprey 1 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Pacific Golden Plover 3 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Pied Cormorant 3 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Pied Oystercatcher 1 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Silver Gull 65 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Whiskered Tern 2 (in breeding plumage) > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Whimbrel 107 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 Whistling Kite 1 > 23-Sep-11 Sandbank 1 White-faced Heron 2 913
cheers,
Jill
Hi Jill
Not sure on exact arrival dates sorry. We do however have some over winter so makes it a little more difficult knowing when birds have started to arrive. I dont actually think they breed that far north. Well nothing compared to many of the other migratory shorebirds that have been streaming back for weeks now. Id have a look tomorrow if I could but Ill be out of Broome for 2 months as of tomorrow arvo.
Cheers Adrian
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By my calculations, it’t a bit early to be talking about the possibility of affinis. I would have expected no earlier than late Oct or early Nov. They have a long way to come, surely? When is the earliest they have been seen in Broome, Adrian?
Jill
Jill Dening Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51′ 41″S 152° 56′ 00″E
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Hi Sav
Yep all look like Macros to me from the photos. They have probably had a great breeding season recently with all the water in central Australia and are starting to disperse. Cheers Adrian
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Hi Adrian, Sav & everyone else
No affinis birds in the photos that I could discern either. It would be worth checking for them though in future amongst these Aust birds, as now is about the time of year that we start to get a few affinis here in Cairns, amongst the Aust birds.
I will be keeping a close eye on the terns at Cairns Esplanade in the next month or so, checking for any arriving affinis – I will, of course, put a post on B-aus when I find some up here. I know that Jill, for one, is pretty keen to catch up with this bird… They have in the past stayed at least for a few weeks in the same locations…
Cheers for now
Martin Cachard Cairns 0428 782 808
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Hi Sav and Jill
Any idea on what subspecies they are that are passing through?
Cheers Adrian
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All the birds appear to be macrotarsa, at least all those that have been seen closely are. It seems that no previous GBTs here were assigned to sub-species, but there is no evidence to suggest that affinis has ever been seen here. Several photos are available at http://www.birdingnz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1221 and http://www.birdingnz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1251&start=10 Cheers Sav
What taxon is involved in this invasion? Australian breeding macrotarsa or migrant affinis from Asia.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
Sav You sure they are not the English rugby team? They usually wear a white strip but have been known to wear black!
Cheers Chris Gregory
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Additionally, Birding Aus subscribers might be interested to know that there are heaps of Gull-billed Terns in NZ at the moment. Prior to this year there were about 45 records of GBT, but in the past few weeks we have had various flocks of 5, 10 and 16, plus a few other scattered records. It appears that at least 30 birds are involved in this invasion.
Sav Saville Wrybill Birding Tours,NZ “Great Birds, Real Birders” http://www.wrybill-tours.com sav@wrybill-tours.com +64 27 680 3740
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Trevor Ford has pointed out that my posting below was ambiguous.
All the gullbills and cresteds arrived from the immediate south, because the wind was northerly. However, they hadn’t spent the day together. The gullbills spend their days within the passage, whilst the cresteds mainly go out to sea. So the gullbills flew north along the passage to the roost, whilst the cresteds flew in from the sea, crossed over Bribie Island and then turned north so they could land into the wind at the roost.
Jill Dening Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51′ 41″S 152° 56′ 00″E
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