Lake Ellesmere 2021/2022

[andrewcrossland]

Hi everyone, I was down at Kaitorete Spit today, checking up on the big Black-billed Gull colony (c.2900 birds today) forming there and restarting monitoring counts after lockdown. I saw only the 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Red-necked Stints and 1 Turnstone, but am likely to have missed the other small group of stints.

The Wrybill migration is still in full swing and a careful count day totalled 704 birds. Great to get the guys' accurate count from a few days ago, and if anyone has time to make a careful count in the coming week or two, much obliged to learn what numbers you get. Look out for multiple flocks though. And the great unknown is how many are on the Greenpark Sands? It may be worth updating the paper on this brief passage of wrybill in late Aug/Early Sept that Phil Crutchley and I put in Stilt some years ago. (https://awsg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/ ... ilt-61.pdf). Its going to be numbers like these that ultimately get Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora listed as a Ramsar site one day.

fantastic to see Wrybills at all points of the compass! Here's a map of where the concentrations were, and the locations of paper roads also.

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And a couple of pics of what the birds and habitat are looking like out there...

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[Adam C]

Well Im hoping all this 'trying to turn an RNS into something else' each year finally pays off when we do get something fantastic like a Western or a Semipalmate and it stands out like dogs bollocks!

Thats a massive Wrybill count today Andrew. Pretty incredible sight and sound out there at the moment!

[Adam C]

Also 55 Bar-Tailed Godwit at Yarrs Bay yesterday. Not 100% if new arrivals or overwintering population or a mix of both although some did look reasonably bedraggled but no obviously drooped wings etc and I forgot to consciously look for worn feather etc. Too busy looking for a Hudwit.

[Jan]

When juv Godwits start to arrive, after the adults do, they are very obvious with the speckled tertials and other secondaries [sp]. But please look for any bands on Godwit legs, not just rarities like Hudsonian Godwits or Black-tailed Gs. I hesitate to say don't just take loads of photos to see what you've got, really have a look at what's there......and be selective. Adults do move around at this season, but it's exceptional that they have left the Avon estuary altogether. They are most likely at Ellesmere, Lyttelton Hbr., Brooklands or Ashley estuary. The changes at the Avon estuary with outfall from the treatment ponds no longer going in there, but piped out out to sea, and the EQs causing uplift at one end and sinking at the other, have caused some of this.

[gmckinlay]

I saw a good number of godwits at Brooklands lagoon August 28th. 50 birds minimum, maybe 100+, seen in flight at distance, moving up the lagoon on the incoming tide.

Perhaps some of the Avon estuary birds Andrew mentioned had moved to there?

[Adam C]

Yes seems most likely

Jan I did have a close look for banded birds but couldn't pick anything up. Difficult though as most were feeding at some distance in knee-deep (for Godwits) water.

[andrewcrossland]

Sorry - just posting this comment in tue correct thread. I don’t know how the other one came up?

Just a heads up that there are only 12 godwits at the Avon-heathcote estuary (it’s never been below 100 before). There had been 108 in early aug, and double that when the godwits left I’m March - so flocks of godwits elsewhere in Canterbury this week are more likely roaming gypsies and not new arrivals - they should start showing up next week.

[andrewcrossland]

It’s great to see banded dotterels nesting in recovering numbers on Kaitorete spit and Birdlings Flat with an increase in predator control out there.

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There’s also a group of about 35 Caspian Terns looking as though they might nest at the Lake Forsyth canal outlet on the lake side just beyond the canal bridge

[Hypno]

Is the area with the BBG gulll colony trapped? interesting to know where this group of birds has come from.

[FraserGurney]

This morning Embankment Road had the marsh sandpiper along with 54 godwit and 100+ wrybill. The curlew sandpiper was still at the spit tip with seven stint including the discussed bird, however wrybill numbers had drastically decreased down to 241 - still a respectable number. Great sunny conditions for a day on the lake.