Queensland Wader Study Group | Non-governmental organisation (NGO)

Queensland Wader Study Group

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20.01.2022 NOT ALL WADERS LIVE BY THE SEA: SIGHTINGS OF THE INLAND DOTTEREL Late in the afternoon, as the sun set over the western boundary of the Diamantina National Park in the far west semi-desert country of Queensland, we observed three Inland Dotterels. Vehicles of a Bird Atlas Expedition were returning to base along a track from Scotts Tank over Gibber and Mitchell grass plains. When the sun is close to the horizon it reflects off the ruddy-brown stones of the Gibber creating a sh...iny polished landscape. The grey clay pan and clumps of Mitchell Grass breakup the field of vision to provide near perfect camouflage for birds of this harsh landscape. The Inland Dotterel’s rusty feathered flanks blend with the Gibber; its greyish upper-parts and wings with the clay pan and its white head and lateral black eye stripe with the dry tussocks of Mitchell grass. Inland Dotterels are mainly nocturnal feeders living off small invertebrates and insects. During the day they move little and so are hard to find. Most observers stumble upon an Inland Dotterel in their headlights at night on outback tracks in central Australia. The three Inland Dotterels, one juvenile and two adults, behaved as some waders do, preferring to move away from us by walking rather than flying. Heads down they walked to stay 40 metres from our advances. They did not rush for the cover of Mitchell grass or scatter in different directions and their pace was steady. The Inland Dotterel is one of just a few waders that live far from the coast. It is a resident of the inland plains and semi-desert regions of Australia. Seemingly, it rarely needs to be close to water and probably gets what water it may need from plants. It is not regarded as an endangered species primarily because of its vast range and availability of inland habitants. However, Geering, Agnew and Harding note in their 2007 ‘Shorebirds of Australia’ that they are the least researched wader in Australia. A more recent search could not find any published work since their classic text. It is probable that feral cat populations pose a threat to this ground nesting bird. After eggs are laid the parents are known to cover them with soil when leaving the nest. But it is not known if this behaviour is to ensure egg temperature control or if it is to act as camouflage from predators. The need for research on this rarely seen inland wader is clearly evident.

20.01.2022 WELCOMING HOME OUR DISPLACED CURLEWS Following our curlews falling foul of bad weather and being displaced in the flyway we wondered if we would ever see them again. AAK made initial landfall on wrong side of cape York, only a small deviation, and course corrected immediately to the east coast arriving at Wellington Point again on 22nd September.... AAD faired much worse, ending up in western Borneo, over 5,000km from home. After 37 days, on the 30th September and to our amazement, she took to the air and flew south-east, 5,100km direct to eastern Australia. After 7 days flying she arrived in Mackay on the east coast, familiar territory for her. She is still there today presumably getting ready for the short hop down the coast back to Toorbul. How on earth did she do that?! Unfortunately our first time migrant AAJ is still on Melville Island, north of Darwin after also being displaced on southward migration. The bird is showing no signs of relocating yet. Displaced and lost through inexperience? Or just taking longer to re-orient? Only time will tell. Truly remarkable birds doing extraordinarily remarkable things! If your at Toorbul why not keep an eye out for AAD at the roost, or across the passage at the Kakadu Beach roost.

16.01.2022 It was great to work with the Carpentaria land Council rangers on shorebird surveys - Celebrate NADOC week

13.01.2022 More than 400 people including Crs Wendy Boglary and Adelia Berridge celebrated World Migratory Bird Day at the 'Lights in the Mud' rally held late this afterno...on in G.J. Walter Park, near Toondah Harbour. The star attraction was Beako the giant Eastern curlew. Speakers included Michael Berkman MP for Maiwar (The Greens), Judith Hoyle (Birdlife Southern Qld), Robert Bush (Wader Study Group) and Tarquin Moon (Australian Conservation Foundation). More: https://redlands2030.net/lights-in-the-mud-a-celebration-o/ See more

12.01.2022 THE WETLANDS MORETON BAY OVERWINTERING PROJECT EXHIBITION IS ON AT THE REDLAND ART GALLERY FROM 25 OCTOBER Visit: artgallery.redland.qld.gov.au/programs/public-programs

11.01.2022 WHY DOES THIS GREY-TAILED TATTLER HAVE A YELLOW ATTACHMENT ON ITS LEFT UPPER LEG? Reporting the sighting of a Grey-tailed Tattler with Green leg flag BAD on the Shorebird Leg-flag Sightings Facebook page recently, Michael Daley asked what the yellow attachment is on the left upper leg (see photo). First up some news about BAD. Caught and flagged at the Manly Harbour Roost on 16 January, 2012, BAD is now more than 8 years old. BAD has been sighted more than 84 times on the Wyn...num, Manly and Lota foreshore over the years. On 25 May, 2019, while on northern migration, observers on Koroen Beach, Japan, recorded BAD’s stopover presence. BAD had a yellow geolocator attached to its upper left leg when it was flagged back in 2012. Geolocators are very small lightweight data loggers that have a light sensitive membrane. Using this light sensitivity and a built-in timer, a record of sunrise and sunset is recorded onto its data chip. If you know the exact time of sunrise or sunset you can calculate your position in the world. Using this information, we can track where BAD goes and so discover BAD’s local and migration routes, journey times, stopover sites, breeding area and breeding timing. But there is a catch! To make geolocators very light there is no transmitter capacity. This means the bird has to be recaptured and the data logger carefully removed for analysis. Although BAD is site loyal and stays each summer on the Wynnum and Manly shoreline we have been unable to recapture it. And so BAD’s detailed migration and local movements remain a mystery. Photo by Michael Daley of Grey-tailed Tattler - BAD Photo close up of a geolocator on a Ruddy Turnstone on King Island, Bass Strait part of the VWSG geolocator study.

10.01.2022 WILL OUR CURLEWS MAKE IT HOME? For the last three years our Moreton Bay Eastern Curlews, (AAD, banded and fitted with a transmitter at Toorbul in 2017 and AAK at Wellington a Point) have been migrating north to their breeding grounds on the Chinese /Russian Border, returning each year. North and Southward tracks are very similar with the Yellow Sea a staging ground in both directions with a direct between there and Eastern Australia. AAJ our juvenile also visited the breeding... grounds this year, following a similar route. This year, their return migration has changed dramatically, presumably due to extreme weather which culminated in cyclones Maysak and Haishan being in their flight paths in late August and early September as they were returning south. AAK seems to have done well making landfall in eastern Cape York, only slightly off track. AAJ our youngster has been displaced west as far as Darwin and us currently moving around on Melville Island, some 1,500km off course. AAD our Toorbul regular is even further off course and over 4,000km further west than normal in Malaysia, only 650km from Singapore. It’s real reminder of how fragile our shorebirds are, even the large ones. It’s good that they’ve all made landfall but will they get back to Moreton Bay this year. We will keep you updated.

10.01.2022 COOCHIEMUDLO CURLEWS Earlier this month saw QBRBG volunteers venture to Coochiemudlo to leg flag Bush Stone-curlews as part of the QWSG shorebird monitoring program. These birds have been studied since 2008 with regular banding and monthly visits to count birds, read flags and record breeding data.... The May visit saw 43 birds caught 6 of which were recaptures including one 12 and one 12.5 yr old bird. The oldest bird on record is a 15 year old bird banding in South Australia. There are around 200 birds on the island and we’ve banded 226 individuals as part of this study now. That’s over 50% of the Bush Stone-curlews banded in Australia. They breed July to January normally once but some are double brooded and typically lay 2 eggs, hatch on average 1.4 chicks per breeding attempt and rear 1. For a species in decline over much of Australia they do remarkably well in Moreton Bay. From the many flag resightings adult annual survival rates are close to 90% and there are signs the islands, particularly Coochiemudlo form a source population for the mainland sites based on flag resightings. So our islands have a huge role to play in sustaining this iconic resident species. Many thanks to everyone who assisted and to Redlands for supporting this project

09.01.2022 QWSG SUBMISSION AND MONITORING DATA HELPS TO SAVE TURTLE COVE FOR THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED EASTERN CURLEW Last Friday, the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment used her powers under the EPBC Act to disallow a proposed development at Turtle Cove on the Fraser Coast, Queensland. Disallowing a development like this for shorebirds is a very rare but most welcome event. The QWSG's 2018 submission stated in part:... Monitoring data show that the large claypan in Turtle Cove situated directly adjacent to the proposed development, is the most numerically important high tide roost site for Far Eastern Curlew within the Great Sandy Strait. In 2005, 1182 Far Eastern Curlew were observed roosting on the Turtle Cove claypan, representing more than 3% of the global population and an all-time high count for the species at this site. Since 1995 when QWSG began conducting strait-wide censuses of the population, the average count of Far Eastern Curlew occupying the Turtle Cove claypan is 553, corresponding to 1.6% of the global population. As such, the claypan at Turtle Cove alone consistently meets the numerical criterion for international importance (1% of the flyway population) and far exceeds the criterion for a site of national importance (0.1% of the flyway population). The numbers presented clearly signal the regional, national, and global importance of the Turtle Cove claypan roost site for the Critically Endangered Far Eastern Curlew. " All those dedicated years of monitoring has paid off!

08.01.2022 Here’s a Children’s gift for Christmas

06.01.2022 TAKE THE QUIZZ The South Australian Department of the Environment has a useful shorebird and tern ID Quiz. You can take it multiple times. There are some different ID questions each time. Time to test your skills for the summer season!... Here is the link: http://www.environment.sa.gov.au//at/shorebirds/html5.html.

06.01.2022 SHARPE-TAILED SANDPIPERS AND RED KNOTS ARE BACK IN NUMBERS! Arthur Keates has captured the hectic feeding of large numbers of Sharpe-tailed Sandpipers and Red Knots at Wynnum in Moreton Bay. Sharpe-tailed Sandpipers can be gregarious and will move from site to site throughtout the summer months. ... On the other hand, most Red Knots arriving in Moreton Bay in September use the shoreline as a staging site. Many Red Knots will later head south with some even crossing the Tasman sea to New Zealand by mid-November. This is the time of year to see Red Knots along the Queensland Coast before their onward migration. Have you ever considered reporting the details of a shorebird with a leg flag? You can go to www.waders.org.au and follow the prompts. Reporting leg flag sightings helps us monitor their survival and any changes over time.

04.01.2022 IMPROVING DRONE TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT SHOREBIRD SURVEYS QWSG is providing support and a bursary to Joshua Wilson from the University of Queensland to study drone technology in shorebird surveys. Two key question are being addressed over the next two years:... ‘How can aerial drone surveys be undertaken without disturbing roosting and feeding shorebirds?’ ‘Can machine learning software be used to autonomously identify and count shorebird species?’ This ambitious research project will involve field work to develop guidelines for safe drone surveys, especially for hard to reach sites. Developing the counting software involves teaching a computer to automatically detect shorebirds using aerial images of various species in different environments. This technology could provide support for traditional ground-based surveys. By improving our survey methods, we can inform more effective conservation strategies to help arrest shorebird population decline.