Hi Jill & others
I have read about your tern counts Jill with great interest.
Do you have any records in recent times on the Sunshine Coast of afinnis Gull-billed Terns amongst the visiting terns you’ve surveyed?
Myself & Adam Arnold first noticed them here in Cairns amongst the visiting Aussie breeding Gull-bills in very small numbers in October 2007 (3 birds). We have had them here in small numbers in summers since, but the most we’ve had on the Cairns Esplanade site at any time is 4 birds. They arrive late October & have usually gone by early March (there are none here at the moment).
Very curious if you get them down there with any regularity….??
Cheers
Martin Cachard Cairns 0428 782 808
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Hi Jill,
Interesting. Goes to show how little is known about bird-life in Australia in particular and the world in general. There is so much area to cover and so few observers. Seems that there a good few PhDs, and interesting papers to be gained from Little Terns.
Keep up the good work.
Carl Clifford
Hi everyone,
An off-list question from a member prods me to give a little more information about Little Terns, not wishing to mislead for want of information.
It gets even murkier, but I didn’t want to addle the situation with more complexity. You see, there are three populations of Little Tern in Australia. Well, that’s how it’s described for want of better knowledge.
1. The northern hemisphere population is a clearcut overseas breeder, as I wrote in the earlier email. 2. The east coast breeders all tend to arrive from September and breed through the spring down the east coast. We don’t know where they arrive from. 3. The northern Australian population, reaching from the western Gulf of Carpentaria across the Top End as far as the Kimberley. This population has been studied by Ray Chatto of NTNPWS, and from his aerial and some ground surveys (as you can imagine, access to NT coastal areas can be difficult) has shown them to be breeding in almost every month of the year. We don’t understand much at all about the breeding drivers in this northern population, but it could be opportunism rather than seasonality. I’m not aware of any recent findings to change that belief.
Cheers,
Jill
Jill Dening Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51′ 41″S 152° 56′ 00″E
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Jill/AusBirders,
We had 2 ‘affinis’ at the Goolwa Barrage area on Dec. 13, 2007. Colin Rodgers relocated one at Murray Mouth on Jan. 26, 2008. This sub-species is noticably smaller and were in non-breeding plumage. I understand this was the first record for SA.
Dean Cutten Victor Harbor, SA
Hi everyone,
An off-list question from a member prods me to give a little more information about Little Terns, not wishing to mislead for want of information.
It gets even murkier, but I didn’t want to addle the situation with more complexity. You see, there are three populations of Little Tern in Australia. Well, that’s how it’s described for want of better knowledge.
1. The northern hemisphere population is a clearcut overseas breeder, as I wrote in the earlier email. 2. The east coast breeders all tend to arrive from September and breed through the spring down the east coast. We don’t know where they arrive from. 3. The northern Australian population, reaching from the western Gulf of Carpentaria across the Top End as far as the Kimberley. This population has been studied by Ray Chatto of NTNPWS, and from his aerial and some ground surveys (as you can imagine, access to NT coastal areas can be difficult) has shown them to be breeding in almost every month of the year. We don’t understand much at all about the breeding drivers in this northern population, but it could be opportunism rather than seasonality. I’m not aware of any recent findings to change that belief.
Cheers,
Jill
Jill Dening Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51′ 41″S 152° 56′ 00″E
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Hi Martin,
To explain to those who aren’t familiar, the Gull-billed Tern occurs in Australia in two subspecies. The one resident all around the country is Sterna nilotica macrotarsa, while the Asian Sterna nilotica affinis migrates in small numbers every summer from Asia. Mostly they are seen in north-west Australia.
No, I have never seen an affinis here in SEQ. I have never laid eyes on one, but would dearly love to. Now that’s a bird I would travel to see. I am very much aware of them (from Danny Rogers’ excellent paper), but have actually not seen many macrotarsa Gull-billed Terns in recent times. I put this down to the recent abundant inland conditions. So an affinis would stand out like the proverbial if one were present here. I wonder if an affinis would follow macrotarsa Gullbills inland?
Paul Walbridge reported an affinis in Brisbane a good decade ago, but I don’t think there has been another reported since then – around here. I guess it makes sense that if they are going to turn (!) up on the east coast of Australia, Cairns is a likely place for them, being closer to Asia. Half your luck for being able to see them.
Cheers,
Jill
Jill Dening Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
26° 51′ 41″S 152° 56′ 00″E
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