Vol. 3 OCTOBER 31, 1970 No.8

The Sanderling on Wilson's Promontory by Roy P. Cooper*, Melbourne Although overseas books on ornithology have described the Sanderling, alba, as being "common on almost every ocean beach in the world", this does not apply, from the published records, to . On this continent they are classed as rare species and they appear to return each year to a favourite area, where they may be seen in small flocks varying from five to two hundred . The main areas are at Boat Harbour, south of Sydney; several places from Port Phillip to Portland, in western Victoria : Goolwa Beach (200 birds) and at Pondalowie Bay in South Australia; also recorded in Western Australia and in Queensland. In the Australian W ate her, 3:243, some of the observations recorded by the team who is carrying out the Survey of the Birds of Wilson's Promontory, were published, revealing the occurrence of the Sanderling in that area; the first records for eastern Victoria. This distribution is somewhat similar to that of the nesting groups. An breeder, the Sanderling nests within the Arctic Circle, in the climatic zone. Although this zone extends around the Arctic Ocean, in northern , , and , and the bird nests "within a mile or two of the coast", it appears to breed in very selected areas, and there are large gaps between the groups. It breeds on some of the Arctic islands of Canada; also along the north-western and north-eastern coasts of Greenland; in ; and in on , and Liakof Island. The Sanderling stays barely more than two months on its breed­ ing grounds, this being the only time that the areas are free of snow, and then becomes "one of the greatest migrants among the world's birds". From the Arctic Circle it travels down to Chile and Argentina, including the Falkland Islands; to South , New Zealand and Australia. However, not all of these birds move so far south, many spending the northern winter in the tropics, southern United States of America, Indonesia, Hawaiian Islands, etc. Although it prefers sandy shores and flats, there are many inland records. This particularly applies to America and Africa,

*Chairman, Committee of Management, Wilson's Promontory National Park. 248 COOPER, Sanderling at Wilson's Promontory r Bird L Watcher where numbers are found on the shores of the large freshwater lakes. At Wilson's Promontory the first record of the Sanderling was of four birds on the sandy mud-flats of Shallow Inlet, on March 5, 1967. The next sighting was of twelve birds, in one party, at the north end of Darby Beach, on October 5, 1968. They kept close together and fed along the edge of the waves. On March 29, 1970, four birds were observed at Shallow Inlet, but on April 11, 1970, no birds were seen on some four miles of the eight mile long Darby Beach. As the published records of the Sanderling in the southern states of Australia indicated that these birds were present during the months between September and April only, no further search for these or other was to be carried out by the Survey Group until the following spring. On June 14, 1970, we began to search the beaches for washed up specimens of migrant sea-birds from the Antarctic. One party had the south end of Darby beach included in their survey and, as some of the members were carrying out certain investigations, F. Fehrer decided to walk a few miles northward along the beach. It was a cloudy, but fine day, with moderate winds, and it appeared from the lack of specimens on the beach, that the pelagic migrants had not yet arrived in these waters. Hooded Dotterels, Charadrius rubricollis, and Red-capped Dot­ terels, C. alexandrinus, the resident dotterels of the area, were present in numbers of 28 and 4 respectively, also one Double­ banded Dotterel, C. bicinctus, that had arrived recently from New Zealand. Suddenly, Fehrer saw a party of 19 small, whitish waders moving very rapidly as they fed on the edges of the waves, on the flat beach. The sighting of the black feathering on the bend of the wing, with the black bill and legs, also the actions of the birds, confirmed their identity as Sanderlings. Back at the Trustees' cottage that night Fehrer was subjected to a critical analysis of his observation. Every reference was checked and confirmed; although he knew the species from previous observations, including the sighting of the twelve birds on October 5, 1968. It was absolutely necessary to be certain of this sighting as, on this day, the Sanderlings should have been in the Arctic Circle selecting their nesting sites. Their presence at Wilson's Promontory indicated a wintering group of these rare waders, something that has not been recorded previously in Australia, below the Tropic of Capricorn. Even in the northern part of this country there is only one definite winter record of two birds, from North-West Cape, in Western Australia, in July, 1894. Darby Beach is a long, almost straight, stretch of sand on the western side of Wilson's Promontory. It separates the Yanakie sand-dunes, the Darby River Flats and, at the southern end, the October ] COOPER, Sanderling at Wilson's Promontory 249 1970

first granite outcrops of the Promontory, from the waters of Bass Strait. It is a somewhat flat beach, 40 to 75 yards wide at low , and in places it is almost covered at high tide, as the big waves lap the edges of the sand-dunes and sand-cliffs. Several streams, including Darby River, cross the beach during the wet weather, but they are dammed by the sand-dunes in the dry season. The beach lies in a north-west direction and is approx­ imately eight miles long, to where it joins with the sand-flats, some three miles wide, through which pass the waters of Shallow Inlet. There is a good foot-track at the south end near Darby River, but access to the beach at other points is difficult. On the following day, June 15, 1970, the Survey party went to Darby Beach, entering it some three miles from the southern end, by the flooded track across Cotter's Lagoon. It was on this part of the beach that the Sanderlings were seen on the previous day. However, an unbroken stretch of eight miles of an almost straight beach allowed plenty of room for the small flock of Sanderlings to feed. A search was made for a mile or two in the area where they had been observed, without any success. Sixteen Sooty Oyster-catchers, Haematopus unicolor, were recorded in a scattered flock, and the Hooded Dotterels had increased to above 50, with about a quarter of them being in the immature plumage. Many other species were seen, but it was not until we returned to our entry point that we saw a small party of Sanderlings in a compact group, standing quietly by the waves, obviously apprehensive of our arrival. By this time the wind had increased in velocity, and it was difficult to stand on the beach and hold field-glasses steady to study the birds. Some of our party had stayed in the sand-dunes while we had walked along the beach. Shortly after our departure, a group of 35 birds had flown in quietly from the south, apparently being disturbed by our presence on the beach. As they came in, gliding a few feet above the beach, they displayed a wide white wing-bar, and were very white on the under parts and head. They settled in a group, parallel to the waves and facing into the strong wind, and moved steadily northward, feeding by rapidly probing the wet sand. The body was tilted down and forward, and the head was moved up and down as the bill probed the sand. Generally, their stance gave them the appearance of being dumpy, but they were very quick in all their movements. The upper parts were pale grey with darker markings, while the side of the head and all the under parts were white; wings darker on the primaries; a blackish marking on the bend of the wing, which was sometimes concealed by the breast feathers; a wide white wing-bar, very conspicuous while in flight; rump dark in centre with white sides; legs and bill black. Some of the birds had a buffish wash on the upper plumage. 250 COOPER, Sanderling at Wilson's Promontory [ Bird Watcher

The flock consisted of 32 Sanderlings and three Red-capped Dotterels, and it was shortly joined by two Red-necked , Calidris ruficollis. In size the graduation was Red-necked Stints, Red-capped Dotterels and then Sanderlings. Some of the Sanderlings flew almost vertically upward on several occasions, and the white wing-bar was very prominent. Several of the Sanderlings and one Red-necked had a sand /water bath on the damp sand on the edge of the waves. The birds settled their bodies on to the sand and splashed water and sand over them by the rapid movement of their wings. They were not heard to call; probably due to the heavy cross wind preventing us from hearing anything, other than the wind and waves. A search of the entire beach was made on July 11, 1970. Unfortunately, it was a very cold, stormy day, with many rain squalls. The fierce north-west winds were blowing straight down the beach, and the survey members who were working up from the southern end had an uncomfortable time. The team coming from the northern end had the wind behind them, but the rain was just as wet, and they had more than twice as far to travel. Many birds were seen on the southern section of the beach, including 45 Hooded Dotterels in five separate groups, 32 Sooty Oyster-catchers in one flock, and 20 Red-capped Dotterels in two parties, but there were no sightings of Sanderlings. The party coming from Shallow Inlet end saw many birds that could not be identified, due to the prevailing weather conditions. However, apart from the resident species, 50 Red-necked Stints and one -, Calidris ferruginea, were recorded, also a party of 15 Sanderlings. These latter birds were in one flock, feeding along the edge of the breaking waves. Other birds appeared to be Sanderlings, but as identification was not certain they are not recorded. The Red-necked Stints and the Curlew-Sandpiper were other wintering waders. On August 8, 1970, the beach was searched again for the presence of Sanderlings. It was a fine sunny day with no wind, and the conditions were ideal for observing birds. Some two to three miles north of Cotter's Lagoon we saw the first Sanderlings, in a scattered flock of approximately one hundred birds. Feeding with them were four Red-capped Dotterels and three Hooded Dotterels. We approached the birds cautiously, moving into the sandhills at the back of the beach, and looking at the birds through vege­ tation growing on the top of the ridges. After twenty minutes, R. Buckingham decided to walk the remaining few miles to the north end of the beach, while I remained to watch this group of birds. At first the Sanderlings were very nervous, and would immediat­ ely fly a few hunderd yards southward as soon as I showed myself. Each time that this happened I would work my way through the vegetation growing in the hollows and on the slopes of the October ] COOPER, Sanderling at Wilson's Promontory 251 l970 sand hills, to a vantage point behind the new position of the Sand­ erlings. This was the pattern of the observations that were continued for the next two hours, during which time ten flights had taken the birds three quarters of a mile along the beach. The birds flew in small flocks of ten to thirty birds, and they were spread over approximately 150 yards of the beach. They would fly down the line of the inside breakers, and it was extremely difficult to sight them against the white foam of the water. I was unaware of the arrival of new groups of birds, as I was out of sight of the beach when I moved amongst the dunes. The Sanderlings were now much less timid and I was able to walk openly, even if slowly, along the back of the beach. All the identify­ ing marks were confirmed, and many of the birds were seen to walk and often run in front of the waves, stabbing the sand quickly and repeatedly with their straight black bill in search of food. At times they fed in small groups of ten to twenty birds, on wet patches of sand left behind by the receding waves. Each party consisted of Sanderlings only, and they faced into the centre of a circle of less than three feet across, and probed quickly with their beaks into the sand. It was similar to the feeding pattern of chick­ ens when a handful of grain is fed to them on a small section of the ground in the farmyard. It was obvious that the number of Sanderlings had increased since my first count. Selecting a vantage point on top of a high sand-ridge, I carefully counted all the birds which were spread over two hundred yards of the beach. The group was isolated, as no other birds could be seen. even with 8x field-glasses, in either direction along the beach. The total number of Sanderlings now exceeded 150 birds. My final action was to move through the sand-dunes to the southern end of the Sanderling groups and then, with much noise and the flapping of a plastic raincoat, scared the birds into flight toward the north end of the beach. This plan was successful and Buckingham was able to make a count which totalled 150 Sanderlings. This is the first wintering record of Sanderlings that I can trace in this country, below the Tropic of Capricorn. It is also the second largest group of this species that has been recorded in Australia in any month of the year. Observations will be continued during the coming season to see if there is an influx of migrants from the breeding grounds within the Arctic Circle, to increase the total number of Sanderlings on Wilson's Promontory. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks are expressed to all the members of the Wilson's Promontory Survey Group who helped in this survey, especially Mr. F. Fehrer, whose persistence led to this discovery, also to Mr. and Mrs. R. Buckingham and Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Evans.