Hi all,
On the 5th December 2012, Dr Sue Robinson (DPIPWE) and myself
observed approximately 2000 Banded Stilts at the northern end of Logan
Lagoon, Flinders Island (55G 609616 E, 5552961 S). Feeding in a typical
line formation in shallow water near the centre of the lagoon they were
later disturbed by an unidentified raptor and seen flying in a large
mixed flock with 100s of Australasian Shelducks.
Since our first sighting in February 2012 (see below), it is of note
that there has been only one other sighting of Banded Stilts on Flinders
Island, that of 17-19 October 2012 (DPIPWE). I spoke with the Flinders
Island PWS Ranger and he was unaware of any reports and had not seen the
stilts personally during the intervening period. It is unclear whether
the stilts remained on the island or in the interim, they moved on. The
absence of sightings may be simply due to the lack of survey
effort/observations.
The previous report from 24/25th February this year is reprinted here from Yellow Throat 63, BirdLife Tasmania:
“Two thousand Banded Stilts (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus) were
observed in the north-eastern bay of Logan Lagoon, Flinders Island (55 G
610615 E, 5553839 S) on 24 and 25 February, 2012. They were seen
roosting in a straight line approximately 10 birds deep, 100 metres
offshore, in shallow water. When feeding they moved as one group in a
line, wading in the shallows. The flock was a mixture of adults in
breeding and nonbreeding plumage with some juveniles. No other wader
species were seen in the flock. In 2003, between 1000 and 3000 Banded
Stilts were seen in this area, travelling around Cameron Inlet, Logan
Lagoon and Adelaide Bay from approximately mid-January through till
March–April. All other Tasmanian sightings of Banded Stilts have been in
numbers fewer than 10. The observers were Liz Znidersic and Dr Sue
Robinson (DPIPWE).”
Kind regards,
Liz
some pics of Feb 2012 sighting here
http://birdobserversnortheast.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/banded-stilts.html
Further reading http://birding-aus.org/
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