NorthQLDBirder

Bye, bye waders! Cairns will miss you!

Sebastian — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:56:32 +0000

It has been pouring rain all week up here in the north so unfortunately I have no photos! I have been out birding four or five times in the rain however and as of today, it seems the bulk of the waders have left the Cairns Esplanade. Today I noted small numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits, Eastern Curlews, Whimbrels, Terek Sandpipers, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Lesser Sand-plovers, Pied Oystercatchers and a few Great Knots, but that’s about it. Last week in a seriously torrential downpour I had the opportunity to see the bulk of the Great Knots, a fair few in near full breeding plumage, hurriedly squeezing in one of their last feeds before take-off. The godwits were still feeding on the grass, surprisingly within metres of passers-by and picnickers. It seems they become a little bolder in their final stages of preparation.

It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks if the rest of the birds (obviously not all species as some are not migratory) will also depart, albeit a little tardily, or if they will stay for the coming dry season. Younger or sick birds are known to stay-over from time to time, particularly the godwits. Already today I missed the birds, feeling a little alone while searching the near empty mud flats. I’m sure with the known shot of eco-tourism dollars injected into the arm of the local economy by these birds, I’m not the only one.

Godwit Shenanigans

Sebastian — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:52:34 +0000

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had noticed the Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) on the Esplanade had, rather unusually, started feeding on the grass. This vigorous feeding has continued and I have seen the birds on the grass in different areas almost daily. I figure it must be a last ditch effort to fatten up prior to migratory departure. Following is a video I took in the heat of the day today.

Note the Common Myna (Sturnus tristis) capitalising on the situation. Two birds followed the godwits, almost in a Willie Wagtail type fashion chasing insects that were disturbed by them. You can actually see all the birds panting amongst the heat waves. Most birds such as the this Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) utilising the minuscule shade produced by this palm, were not willing to brave the heat.

That was not the end of the strange godwits today. In between the group of birds feeding on the grass and others loafing on the mudflat, stood this bird — missing a leg. I can’t say for certain that it was excluded from the two groups, but it certainly seemed a little sickly.

Please excuse the following random characters, it is for Technorati: GSYYX7S8TH6W

The ‘nade and Helpful Hints Separating Stints

Sebastian — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:59:21 +0000

It was another hot day today with the rain that has been forecast every day for the last two weeks still not eventuating. All the same, the tide was just about perfect, being about 10% out and heading that direction when I arrived. The species diversity is reducing but many of the more common species are starting to moult into their breeding plumage prior to their migratory departure . At the southern end on the boardwalk, the storwater runoff enters fairly deep channels allowing small fish to come quite close to shore, bringing predators with them. Here is some footage of a Striated Heron (Butorides striatus) hunting.

It is fairly lucky to catch a Striated Heron this close up actually actively hunting, especially with such success. This bird actually manages three successful strikes in a row. More typically, this species stays quite still with very little movement. Those slow deliberate steps are usually far more sparse and reserved for movement after a strike is unsuccessful.

Another species that got quite close to the shore today was the Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis). With many birds mid-moult, I thought it the perfect time to comment on separating this common little bird from other species and its rarer brethren. About as large as a sparrow, these birds will likely be among the smallest wader on any foreshore. Here is a comparison shot of a Red-necked Stint next to some Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) and Curlew Sandpipers (Calidris ferruginea).

Chances are, if you spot a stint on the east Australian coast, it will be the Red-necked Stint. The key feature to look for, unless you’re looking at a mudflat, is dark legs. This is the only stint of its size present in Australia with dark legs. Another feature I look for to confirm a bird is a Red-necked stint is the bulbous tip on the end of the bill. This is more subtle in some birds than others, but if it is present (and not a chunk of mud), it is diagnostic. Often, Red-necked Stints are confused with Sanderlings (Calidris alba) which makes no sense to me. The Sanderling is a larger bird with much brighter, higher contrast grey and white appearance. Finally, the Sanderling, as the name implies, is usually found on sand. While Red-necked Stints can be found on sandy beaches, it is uncommon to find a Sanderling outside its preferred habitat.

Red-necked Stints feed in small groups and their presence can often be missed as they blend well with their usual surroundings. Here is a video of a motley group. Note the bird coming into moult, it looks particularly light. Moulting shorebirds often confuse me and I have got excited on many occasions at the sight of an ‘off’ looking bird.

And as a little finale for today, here is a photo of a Peaceful Dove nest I found outside work…

Birder’s Diary 3.6 Review – Developer Response

Sebastian — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:44:32 +0000

Well, after some mucking around with licenses and exchanging a few quick emails with Jeff, I managed to check all the responses that he provided to my Birder’s Diary review. Here is his response with only a few minor bits removed:

Hello Sebastian,

…

I want to thank you for doing the birding community a big service in performing such reviews as you did here with Birder’s Diary. I am sure that many folks appreciate a 3rd party, independent review of such things. I also want to thank you personally for doing such a professional job. I will certainly post a link to your site from mine for others to view.

Please allow me to note a few potential corrections to the article that you may want to make in order to make it completely accurate for your users. They are minor.

1. You can actually stop Petey, the talking psitticine, from talking at any time. Two ways, right-click on Petey and choose “Be Quite” from the popup menu; and pressing the Scroll Lock (universal talk button for Microsoft) and saying “Be Quiet”. He stops immediately. Actually, I never use him, but you wouldn’t believe how many users love it. Hence, why I keep him around. It really is a religious battle for most folks. They either hate him or love him.

2. In Australia there is a complete list of species per Region. A complete list of species is supplied for Australia as a whole, and then the following regions: Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and Australasia Islands.

3. You mention the inability to correct errors in a SmartSearch field by using the Backspace key and of having to use the Reset button on the Sightings Entry window. I assure you that you can do this quite effectively with the Backspace key. For help on the many versatile features of the SmartSearch fields (really essential), while a SmartSearch field has focus (blinking cursor in it) press “Alt+F1″. You will get a popup dialog explaining use and features of this very versatile search and entry mechanism. For example, the DELETE key clears the field at any time – no need to use the RESET button. And Backspace will delete backwards. But without this and the other knowledge from this help window, a user can quickly get confused at the proper functioning of SmartSearch fields.

4. I love your concepts on missing features (e.g. more links to updated ornithological sites and a search feature for Wikipedia)! Expect that in the next release.

…

Thank you!

Jeff J Jones
Jeff@BirdersDiary.com

http://www.BirdersDiary.com

Naturally, I investigated all these corrections and comments and found as follows:

1. It is true that there are numerous options for disabling ‘Petey’ the talking parrot. I did mention this in the review, but where I got it wrong is that it is in fact possible to quiet him when he is in the middle of one of his annoying rambles. Jeff outlines the methods above.

2. Yes, you can generate a checklist for the different states of Australia. Apparently my problem was caused by my running an older version of the database. Just the same, this is not an incredibly useful list. The Australian state with the most species for example, Queensland, is ten percent larger than Alaska. You can imagine how much larger the species list especially considering it is home to the world heritage listed wet tropics region. The list is literally hundreds and hundreds of species long. This is hardly the fault of Birder’s Diary though, as the state list a step further than any other program I have seen.

3. I tested Jeff’s suggestions relating to SmartSearch fields with mixed results. You can use backspace to clear a field, you just can’t hold it. You have to press and release the backspace key otherwise it locks up. In any case, the ability to use delete key to clear it one hit covers this problem. Using (Alt+F1) to get help using the field just flat out didn’t work. I still definitely like the function of the Bird Journal fields much better. Again though, the Bird Journal fields do not allow search by scientific name (up to version 1.4).

All in all, few major corrections. I have to say, even with my nincompoopery at times, Jeff was incredibly helpful and supportive throughout the review process. He never seemed frustrated or irritated no matter how much I bothered him.

The best designed software in the world is nothing without adequate support. Ever had a problem with a Google product?

Whimbrels and Curlews

Sebastian — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:38:02 +0000

I spent another hot afternoon on the Esplanade today and managed to get some more decent videos. With waders, I often find that once you have observed a species, it becomes much easier to separate them. Differences that look fairly subtle on paper become glaringly apparent in the field. That is why I thought video is an excellent idea! Here is a video I took today of a Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) feeding near the boardwalk at the southern end.

The following video is of an Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) chasing prey at the northern end. It collapses chasing a crab after running into mud too soft for it. Not something often observed with these usually sure-footed birds!

The Whimbrel and Eastern Curlew are wildly different looking birds. The bill length and size of the birds make them unmistakable for one another. A good guideline I have heard is, “The Eastern Curlew looks as though it could easily touch the tip of its tail while the Whimbrel looks like it can’t”. As I said though, it will only take a sighting or two before separating them is second nature. In the above video of the Whimbrel, there is actually an Eastern Curlew calling in the background, see if you can pick it up! It is interesting that these two species often react to each other’s calls on some level.

I also took some decent footage of the Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus), Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes), Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) and Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis). A number of these species present an ID problem in the field. I find that despite some characteristics clearly separating them from similar species should you get a decent photo, there are some general GISS characteristics you should look out for that may be more helpful while observing.

I will post about them in the coming days!