Mega northern pintail tip Lagoon Invers

[sav]

Hi all,

If anyone is interested in the Australian records for Northern Pintail, I've just had a look through the BARC records.

It is a VERY rare bird in the Eastern half of Australia! There are 8 accepted BARC submissions, which look likely to be 7 individuals (one was at the same location 2 years running). One is from Cocos (Keeling) Is, one from Darwin, and 5 are from WA - so that only leaves one Eastern Aus record, in NSW, in 2000. They range from 1986 - 2017.

When one considers the geography, it would make some sense for the WA birds to originate in Asia, but more sense (?) for our 2 records to be American birds overshooting Hawaii (where it is apparently a regular Northern Winter visitor).

Its all pretty amazing!!

cheers

[nzsam]

A few of us found the northern pintail this evening in the NE area. Her Shoveler drake tried to entice her into the water when we arrived but not before she entertained us with a wing stretch.

[andrewcrossland]

Just booked my flights for next Sat (30 April) so hoping it stays at the lagoon, otherwise it'll be fun to do some ebird atlassing for the day around the Southland coast!

[sjacques]

Hi all,

Clearly this bird has generated considerable interest locally and around the country. I've been lucky enough to find a few vagrants on both sides of the world, but this one will live long in the memory for being so remarkably far beyond her normal range. I'm glad that others have been able to enjoy this bird, whether through their own eyes or vicariously, and thanks for the many messages of congratulation from those who know what it means when the sort of thing we birders dream of appears before us.

Interesting to speculate on where in the Holarctic range of the species she hails from, and thanks for the detective work Sav. I had automatically thought Eastern Eurasia, but on the basis of the spread of Aus records North America certainly can't be ruled out.

Glenda, as usual your photo (and the little tern image) is stunning and very helpful; I had not managed a good look at her wing pattern - looks spot on as with all other features. Those with more expertise might be able to answer my question - can she be aged on the pattern of the coverts, secondaries and tertials? My gut would tell me she is likely to be a young bird, I'm speculating that the gingery hue on her head and chest might also be indicative of a first winter.

Jan, I understand your concerns and wrestle with some of these issues myself, however I don't want to fill up the bird sightings page with an extended debate on climate change and our responsibilities. If it helps I planted 20 native trees on my section on Monday evening by way of offsetting.

Most importantly, shout out to OSNZ/BirdsNZ for their work down here in protecting and promoting the fabled tip lagoon (and other sites) for its intrinsic and extrinsic values; for the local and migrant species that use it, and for the humans who need the beauty and wonder of nature in their lives.

Cheers team,
Sean

[Michael Szabo]

Interesting duck turns up in Invercargill estuary - Southland Times, 20th October 2021:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/126 ... ll-estuary

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Jan raised the issue of carbon emissions from travelling to see birds like this. I think discussing the climate change implications of all our activities is reasonable and necessary, but I have pulled posts mostly about that into a new thread so both topics can get the attention they deserve: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11214

[RussCannings]

To Sav's point about pintail being a regular winter bird in the Hawaiian Islands, I would also mention that both American Wigeon and Green-winged Teal are also annually present and, like pintail, are strong-flyers and travel in mixed flocks with each other along the Pacific Flyway (All 3 are a regular sight offshore on autumn pelagics west Vancouver Island for example). So worth adding those to Asian dabbler candidates like Garganey, Common Teal, and Eurasian Wigeon for ducks to look out for (and don't forget to check for females!)-- Awesome bird Sean.

Russ

[NicDillon]

With regards to pintail sightings in NZ, for the record, I saw a male bird many years ago on the 10 March 1998. This was very close to the mouth of the Wairau Diversion in Marlborough. Plumage state suggested it was moving into eclipse . It was too distant for my camera gear at the time, however I did have a decent scope and produced a couple of pages of field sketches which I will try to attach to this post. I never submitted a rare bird sighting.... simply through laziness.

Nic Dillon

IMG_8398.jpeg (281.97 KiB) Viewed 1448 times

IMG_8399.jpeg (223.6 KiB) Viewed 1448 times

[andrewcrossland]

Hi Nic, I’ve been on the RAC for a number of years now and I lie away at night dreaming of the day that someone submits a UBR with sketches as good as those!! Like the black kite so many years ago, we’d very much like to receive that UBR if you had an hour or two spare to write it and send it in!

[Jan]

i've got a painting of Nik's. he's a fantastic artist.