Stockton Sandspit 27 Feb 2010

A promising weather forecast and a need to take some photos had me thinking of visiting the local shorebirds before they migrate to the northern hemisphere for the winter. With a high tide of 1.9m just after sunrise, I thought this would bring many of the waders up close. I was wrong. It was a huge tide which flooded most of the sandspit and in fact seemed to make the birds look elsewhere for a roosting and feeding area. I was hoping to see Double-banded Plovers (migrant from NZ) which had been sighted; but they and most of the regulars failed to show.
It was not all in vain however, because the Oystercatcher family was present and they allowed me to get really close. Must have been some decent stalking by me, because they just watched me approach and lay down within 10 metres of them as they strolled around. I scored some nice family portraits and got to see the oysterkids take to the skies. Amazing how they’ve grown up before our eyes!

I decided to leave the sandspit and visit a local wreck which is a popular roost for the Pacific Golden Plovers. It too was almost totally submerged but thankfully five PGP and a White-faced Heron were there. No sign of breeding plumage on the PGP’s so they will hopefully be around for a few more weeks yet.

I found the leftovers of some fisherman’s catch on the beach and decided to see what I could lure in with it. I threw it out into the water and watched the rapid arrival of a Pelican and a Pied Cormorant as they raced to it (the Pelican won).

Not happy with the quantity of photos I had taken for the morning, I headed for Blackbutt Reserve for a last destination before heading home. No unusual sightings, just Black Swans, Pacific Black Ducks and Australian Wood Ducks. One pair of wood ducks had a single youngster who was very cute and worthy of me laying in duck poo to get a close up photo.