Wallagoot

[sue romane]

On a lazy amble at Wallagoot today, 41 Little Terns (though one or two may have been Fairy Terns) were counted, fishing in the lake, resting by the shore or hunkered down on the sand. 

Also present were six Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, three adults and three juveniles...I'd thought at first the juveniles were another species since they seemed shorter than the adults  and had wider white eyebrows and a pale orange wash on the chest, but my Field Guide soon set me straight.  

A pair of nesting Pied Oystercatchers noted, as well as another pair patrolling a sand bank.

[Liz Allen]

Nice sightings Sue.

Sent from my iPad

On 21 Nov 2023, at 7:56 pm, sue romane <sero...@hotmail.com> wrote:



On a lazy amble at Wallagoot today, 41 Little Terns (though one or two may have been Fairy Terns) were counted, fishing in the lake, resting by the shore or hunkered down on the sand. 

Also present were six Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, three adults and three juveniles...I'd thought at first the juveniles were another species since they seemed shorter than the adults  and had wider white eyebrows and a pale orange wash on the chest, but my Field Guide soon set me straight.  

A pair of nesting Pied Oystercatchers noted, as well as another pair patrolling a sand bank.

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[Leo Berzins]

Thanks for the report, Sue.

 

I called in briefly on Thursday morning to assess Little and Fairy Tern breeding numbers.

With the benefit of a scope , I saw 60+ small terns (including at least at least 10 Fairy Terns) and 20+ nests.

 

Other notable birds in addition to the sharpies were 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 30+ Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Pacific Golden Plovers, 6 distant (possible) Red Knots, 2 Caspian Terns

 

Sorry, no camera at the time so no photos but here’s a Variegated Fairy-wren on my car mirror at Bournda Lagoon.

 

Regards,
Leo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/0ystercatcher/

[sue romane]

Thanks for the update, Leo.

Pretty exciting to have 20-plus small tern nests already at Wallagoot.    

One-sixth seems an unusually large proportion of Fairy Terns to Little Terns, too, but I guess it's early days and that could change.

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From: fs...@googlegroups.com <fs...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Leo Berzins <leo.b...@internode.on.net>
Sent: Friday, 24 November 2023 5:12 PM
To: fs...@googlegroups.com <fs...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [FSCB] Wallagoot

 

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