Lesser Sand Plover - Little Waihi

[wghabbott]

Hi Tim, what time will you be looking for the LSP on Thursday?

[Tim Barnard]

Good stuff. I'll be at the jetty at about 4.30-45pm. HT is 6.30 dark at 7.30. It'll be a race.
Excellent.
027 475 8979

[wghabbott]

See you at 4.30
Thanks Tim

[Tim Barnard]

Classic Little Waihi evening. Plenty of great birds about. Didn't get the LSP but I think we both saw birds at distance that had us interested. Not sure I'm ready to give up on this one still being around. Hudsonian looking smart, two Marsh Sands and an embarassed Red-Necked Stint were the highlights with Pacific Golden Plover, many in BP, looking great. Little Tern also dropped in. As so often at this site, its the ambience, numbers and chatter of birds that makes it special. And great company.
Good luck to those searching over the weekend.

[andrewcrossland]

This site sounds like the perfect place for soneone to do (and eventually write up) fortnightly or monthly counts. Does anybody do them or are the waders always too exciting to worry about doing a census?

[RussCannings]

Hi all,

David Thomas, some visiting Canadian friends and I birded the Little Waihi and Maketu area for most of Saturday. We started at Pukehina Spit around high tide where a good assortment of birds were roosting including 2 Little Tern (1 ad 1 imm) and 1 RN Stint.

We then patrolled the fields and Maketu estuary without turning up to much. After lunch we hit the mudflats of Little Waihi around low tide and refound 1 Little Tern and the stint along with a juv Black-fronted Tern near the holiday park. A Marsh Sandpiper was picked out in the SW corner and after a few hums, haws, and false alarms, we spotted the Lesser Sand Plover near the maimai in th3 middle if the bay. Unfortunately due tithe wind the bird mainly faced away from us which frustrated my digiscoping attempts. We did however make careful nite of the larger size to nearby bandies, very well defined dark grey shoulder tabs, pure white and grey appearance, darker mask, etc.

No sign of the hudwit or second marshie. Will post full ebird list later.

AC--Tim and others do a fairly decent job of adding sightings to ebird but perhaps a more formal count could be a great idea.

Russ C

[Tim Barnard]

Yep data going back 17 years ... try to update as often as poss. Just an amateur though with a job to hold down.

[andrewcrossland]

Good to know . That area has had some great birds for decades..

[Tim Barnard]

I must admit Andrew, when I read your comments, and Phil's too, I was a little disappointed. Phil's knee jerk demand for a photo, and your throw away lines about census data were I'm sure well meant, but could have landed better. Phil I think GSPs and LSPs may have been muddled for many years so yes, photos are great. But sometimes its not possible and good field observations are all there is.

With regard to census data. There are very few birders in the BoP, and even fewer that do local patch work. We struggle to get enough people to do the 'official' census let alone monthly counts. There are few sites that get more regular updates than Maketu and LW in NZ. Birding is passion for me, its not a job, I don't get paid to do it, I do it because I love it. I submit ebird data, UBRs, photos and band data wherever and whenever I can but like I said, I have a job to hold down and time can be pressured.

Little Waihi is one the best little estuaries in NZ, its produced some stunning birds in recent times and I am more than happy to show people around. If either of you are up this way, you are more than welcome to join me for an afternoon. If there are any birders in the BoP who are keen to help collect data or just look and explore some amazing places - get in touch.

Awesome to hear you had a great day Russell, David et al ...

[philbattley]

Sorry Tim, my knee-jerk reaction was simply being excited about seeing a thread about Lesser Sand Plover and seeing the icon for a photo, nothing more nothing less. I just like threads with photos of good birds. Nothing more was meant than "Cool, a chance to see a photo of a Lesser Sand". I know you do an awesome job keeping tabs on things out there.
Cheers, Phil