Hi again,
A few of us have been working on putting together a blog on birding in WA, which we hope to build into a useful source of information on birds and birding in Western Australia (some content will also be relevant and hopefully of interest to birders in other parts of the country!). For those interested, the blog (with our first few articles) can be accessed at http://wabirdingblog.blogspot.com/
Comments, queries, suggestions etc. are all welcome – you can get in touch with us at wabirdingblog@gmail.com
Cheers, John
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
G’day all
Well done John, & others involved, on the new WA Birding blog – some very interesting articles on some birds that us Easteners don’t get to see as often as you guys do !!
I really enjoyed the Pectoral Sandpiper ID article, especially with your inclusion of a link to the ID discussion on the Feathers & Photos forum of a photographed dark individual… I am very glad that you highlighted this particular case in your blog ID notes …
The NSW bird featured in Feathers & Photos that you have highlighted was initially ID’d as a Pectoral by nearly all having a go at it on the forum, including the observer/photographer. This perfectly illustrates how hard they can be for some & the need for better ID aids/info. Up here at Cairns Esplanade, from Sept-Nov, we get Sharp-tailed Sandpipers that look just like this individual. Many of these dark-breasted Sharpies are mistaken up here at this site for Pectorals, but whenever I’ve heard of a claim of a Pectoral here, upon inspection they have all been moulting post-breeding Sharpies, almost identical to this NSW bird photographed. This season there were at least 4 of these dark-breasted Sharpies at the Esplanade (they had me interested for a little while as they are difficult if not observed closeby, but when seen well, they were able to be correctly identified – photos I took left no doubt as to their ID). Personally, I feel that nearly every relatively recent record of Pectorals at this site in Cairns are indeed just moulting post-breeding Sharpies. I’m not saying here that it is impossible for a Pectoral to turn up on Cairns Esplanade – just that we need to be very very careful when claiming them here…
The ID notes in your blog (& it’s reference to the informative Sharpie photo) can only help observers learn how to ID these 2 tricky species, that as you say, become easier with practice – unfortunately for observers up here, just getting the chance to see Pectorals for such practice is very very difficult…I have only had a couple of personal records of Pectorals up this way in 15 years & they’ve all been well inland. A good close look at your blog notes would be a great learning tool for observers in the absence of the birds themselves… I think everyone would agree that they are hard birds to ID correctly & your notes cover it very well, far better than any current Aust field guides in my opinion.
Keep the ID section in your WA blog coming with other great information…
I look forward to reading it in future – what a great region of Aust your part of the world is !!
Cheers
Martin Cachard Cairns
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================