I keep expecting someone to pose the question: What are the chances that this is a ship-assisted record? Esperance seems to suggest the possibility/probability, doesn’t it?
Does anyone have any information about this record, or about Esperance shipping movements, which would make this more or less likely?
Richard
Not sure where or what the tug boat was doing before the bird was found in it. But it is also possible that the thrush hopped onto the tug from any ship that was already tied up in port, even if the tug did not assist them into port.
Looking at the shipping lists for the Port of Esperance for that week http://www.esperanceport.com.au/shipping.asp ships were being loaded with cargo that were bound for Singapore and Chinese and Japanese ports. There’s no information where these ships had come from before arriving at Esperance, but if one assumes that they are making return journeys to their ports of origin, then all these ships potentially sailed southwards along the east Asian coastline and/or between islands of South-east Asia, intersecting the northern migration route of the Siberian Thrush.
Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW
What isn’t yet clear, to me anyway, is where the tug had been nor what it had been doing. Was it shepherding a ship into port, returning from assisting a departing vessel locally or from a longer voyage for whatever reason? What is clear is that the bird was damaged but otherwise in good condition, i.e. not fly-blown, rotten or degraded. Thus it was not long dead before found unless stored in a freezer. Ship assistance per se is not now regarded as a barrier to acceptance but deliberate carriage of course is. Maybe we should know more about the tugs movements. Tiger Shrike was added to the Australian list by Christidis & Boles after being found dead at another WA port and rather naughtily before acceptance by BARC, and as if to prove that decision was justified, has since been seen alive on Christmas Island, Ashmore Reef (twice) and Browse Island. I know of those records because I saw them all! There is no doubt as to the species identity and age, an immature male, but as to the subspecies, I couldn’t say. What does seem odd to me is that a Siberian Thrush would not be in adult plumage by mid June but others suggest that the stress of being misplaced might have delayed its moult. Most vagrants are immature birds.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
Pure speculation now as to how it got to Esperance chaps. Pity it was dead though as we are all well overdue for a major twitch for a live vagrant to add to the Aussie list.
Tony
Hi Everyone,
I just phoned the AQIS officer at Esperance for more information, at Simon’s request. Apparently the bird was found on board a tug boat and not on land when it was found. However, the tug boat was in port and was only about 5 m from land. So people can make up their own minds as to whether the bird was ship-assisted to Esperance, underwent reverse migration or both.
Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW
There seems to be a discrepancy here. Mike Carter reported on Birding-aus on 29 June that the specimen was found on a tug at Esperance:
BIRDING-AUS” Australia?
“From photographs of a bird found dead on the Esperance (WA) tug on 20 June 2011, we may finally have an Australian record of the long overdue SIBERIAN THRUSH!”
It would be useful to know which version of events is right.
Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW
Hi,
I didn’t speculate on ship assistance, mainly because the bird should be in Siberia right now. It’s not all that likely that it would have made landfall in Esperance, even if it had been ship-assisted.
Further, it wasn’t found on a ship. The details are sketchy but AQIS informed me it was picked up on land.
Regards,
Simon.
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