RIGHT NOW most of the world’s population of Red-necked Stints are in the middle of raising their young high in the arctic circle (at least I hope that they are, given that they’ve experienced total breeding crashes the last 2 out of 3 years). The adults will return with their young sometime in September. Meanwhile the Australian shorelines are home to the juvenile population (birds in their first and second year), members of which will not participate in the trans-hemispheric migration until their third year.

The April survey on Long Reef confirmed the breeding crash, with a mere 3 Red-necked Stints being present on the reef. However, there is evidence here and there around Australia that juvenile shorebirds also have a “mini-migration” to escape the colder conditions which are prevalent in the more southern part of the continent. The May count confirmed that something is happening, because the numbers of Red-necked Stint on Long Reef leapt to 22 birds. There’s more to it than meets the eye, but you can get across that by reading the May post.

Today, the stint population remains 22. One of the birds was of particular interest. Whilst 21 of the stints displayed winter/juv plumage, 1 displayed more than a little of the plumage which you’d expect to be finding on adults at this time of year. You see this now and again among shorebirds, I call it the “Greek Schoolboy Effect” juv birds displaying adult traits.

The picture is a little fuzzy but it reveals that this Red-necked Stint is displaying around 5-10% breeding plumage in the height of the breeding season on the wrong side of the planet. © 2009 Ricki Coughlan.

The fact that the number of stints is consistent with the May count indicates the likelihood that these birds are not from further up the coast, as site fidelity would have ensured their return. Counts at Boat Harbour, subsequent to the April Long Reef count indicated that the stints had not departed from that site either. We don’t have enough data to form any conclusions but at this point, so we’re left with assumptions and a mystery, but the hypothesis of a mini migration is certainly not ruled out.

And now . . . a bump in Double-banded Plover numbers!

THAT’S NOT the only mystery which has reared its head on Long Reef this week. The numbers of Double-banded Plover have leapt from 4 to 10! This is a record count for our surveys on the reef and might be the highest recorded for many years. It’s difficult to say whether these birds have come from other locations or whether we have a number of birds which move between the reef and the golf course – where they are sometimes reported to be foraging.

A Double-banded Plover braving the wet and blustery reef. © 2009 Ricki Coughlan.

There’s always been a bit of a fluctuation in numbers of these birds on the reef and this may well be a reflection of patterns of movement from the golf course and the reef. After all, golf courses are very much like some of the habitat which is enjoyed by these birds when breeding in New Zealand. I’ll be surveying the golf course for a few weekends and hopefully things will become clearer.

A Double-banded Plover getting down to business. © 2009 Ricki Coughlan.

I did notice the other day at Boat Harbour that the dozen or so Double-banded Plover there were all foraging well up the beach at high tide – eschewing the opportunity for nap in favour of getting a feed. A number of those birds are displaying high breeding plumage scores – 60% or more. Perhaps they’re getting into pre-migration fattening up mode? Might this explain a shift in foraging sites for our friends at Long Reef? There’s plenty of work to be done on these birds before we can turn conjecture into understanding.

Once again the value of regular, methodical observation of birds is revealed: if you get some nice data on bird numbers or behaviour on a regular basis, patterns – consistencies and inconsistencies – begin to emerge, opening things up for questioning and discovery. This is really the far more interesting side of strolling out the door with binoculars and scope and gives us all the chance to contribute to knowledge, conservation and the betterment of our world in some little way – and what can be more rewarding than that?

Until next time . . . happy birding.

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Birding, Shorebirds by Ricki