Lake Ellesmere birding

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andrewcrossland
Posts: 2132
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:29 pm
Location: Christchurch

Lake Ellesmere birding

Postby andrewcrossland » Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:05 pm

At Jarvis today were:
13 pacific golden plover
2 sharp-tailed sandpiper
1 godwit
2 red-necked stint.
This is the time of year (late feb to late April ) when all the good stuff turns up sp folks, keep your eyes open....
mikullashbee
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 11:48 am

Re: Lake Ellesmere birding

Postby mikullashbee » Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:22 am

After reading Andrews report on Saturday evening i gave Jarvis rd. a go on Sunday morning. After having a couple rather slow experiences over at embankment rd. lately i thought i was done shorebirding this season. There have been several people shooting waterfowl near embankment rd and as a result the birds are rather scattered and the high water levels are not leaving a lot of places to check. So thank you for your report. I had 1 Curlew Sandpiper on the way into breeding plumage, 10 RN Stint (most of which were developing nice colour), and 1 Red Knot hanging out with a group of 60 or so Wrybill. I also had a very dark Hybrid BlackXPied stilt fly past. No sign of any Sharp-tailed Sandpipers or PGP's while i made my way around the area, but i am hoping to get out again this week. Here are a couple pics from the outing.
Cheers
Mike Ashbee
https://mikeashbee.smugmug.com
Image
Curlew Sandpiper
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Red Knot showing rhynchokinesis
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Red Knot
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Red-necked Stint
Image
Pied StiltXBlack Stilt
andrewcrossland
Posts: 2132
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:29 pm
Location: Christchurch

Re: Lake Ellesmere birding

Postby andrewcrossland » Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:54 am

Great pics!
mikullashbee
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 11:48 am

Re: Lake Ellesmere birding

Postby mikullashbee » Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:21 pm

Thanks Andrew. I managed a couple more mornings down at the lake sifting through hundreds of Banded Dotterels looking for anything different. Plenty of Pied Stilts doing there job keeping all the other waders on their toes. Between them and the B-dots it makes doing bird photography a real challenge. At the end of one rather fruitless morning i considered selling my camera gear and just buying a scope. Perhaps i would have left with more of a grin on my face.lol. Anyways, i do enjoy the process and just love being out there with the birds.The Wrybill are always friendly at least.
On Wednesday morning I had a group of 10 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and they are well on their way into breeding plumage and looking rather sharp i might add.This was a huge highlight for me as i have never seen them in this stage. I am use to seeing the odd juvenile in Canada, and since moving here i haven't seen them with this much colour or black chevrons on the flanks. 3 Curlew Sandpipers, one in full breeding plumage, the one i posted the other day going into breeding plumage, and one in non-breeding plumage. 50 or so Red-necked Stint and 4 PGP all on the way into breeding plumage but seemingly a ways off yet.
This morning i was joined by my friend Ben for another go. The only bird we were able to add onto this tally was a lone Pectoral Sandpiper, a lifer for Ben, and the first time I have managed to get on one this season. I will attach a record shot just incase its some weird hybrid i've never heard of, you know like a bloody Cox's Sandpiper.lol. Speaking of which where did his internal compass drop him this year.
Image
Pectoral Sandpiper
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Sharp-tailed Sandpiper breeding plumage
Image
Red-necked Stint
https://mikeashbee.smugmug.com
Good Birding
Mike Ashbee
mikullashbee
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 11:48 am

Re: Lake Ellesmere birding

Postby mikullashbee » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:59 pm

Made it down to Jarvis rd. for another look around this morning. Hoping something cool dropped in over night from further south somewhere. It was a rather disappointing trip with a few new ATV tracks accompanied by dog tracks all over the area the birds were frequenting earlier in the week. I guess its that time of the year when the hunters are tending to their stands. I counted 250 odd Banded Dotterel, 50 Wrybill, and 10 Red-necked Stint. I was not the only one down there 'shore birding' this morning, as there were 2 feral cats out on the flats hunting. I have seen many cat tracks in the past but have never seen one actually out there stalking waders. All i could do was give them a little chase.....if the hunters wanted to do something useful though.
Image
mikullashbee
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 11:48 am

Re: Lake Ellesmere birding

Postby mikullashbee » Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:05 am

Just thought i would post an update from the Jarvis rd area of lake Ellesmere. I went for a wander around yesterday afternoon, and not surprisingly after all that heavy rain last week the area has been completely transformed. Much of the exposed vegetation and shallow bays the birds were flocking to last week were completely submerged leaving very little area for the waders to feed. It would appear the majority of birds have moved on, either to another area of the lake (if anyone has insight on a good spot to check when the water levels are this high i'd love to hear), or perhaps that nasty weather was the push those remaining arctic waders needed to make their move north. There were however a few birds around with the highlights being 25 Red-necked Stint in various plumages, 2 Red Knot in non breeding plumage, 1 Pacific golden Plover in non breeding plumage,40 banded dotterel(compared to 300+ last week),only 6 Wrybill, hundreds of Pied stilt and thousands of ducks, geese, and swans. Here are a couple of the Red-necked Stints seen yesterday.
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Red-necked Stint
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Red-necked Stint
Good birding
Mike Ashbee
Christchurch

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