Dec. SMITH: Australian Record of White-rumped 317 1976 ] Sandpiper Corvus coronoides, Australian Raven. Common. Two nests in 1973 and four in 1974. Birds observed outside the period December 1, 1972 to February 1, 1975. Cracticus torquatus, Grey Butcher-bird. Podargus strigoides, Tawny Frogmouth. Dacelo gigas, Laughing Kookaburra. Seisura inquieta, Restless Flycatcher. Colluricincla harmonica, Grey Shrike-thrush. An Australian Sight Record of the White-rumped Sandpiper By FRED. T. H. SMITH, Kew, Victoria. SUMMARY An account of the first sighting for Australia of the White­ rumped Sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis, is given with a photograph. The bird was seen at Lake Murdeduke, Victoria, many times by various observers over a period of approximately eleven weeks. FINDING THE WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER While watching waders along the shoreline of the west side of Lake Murdeduke, a large, salty to brackish, open lake with no above-surface vegetation, about 125 km west of Melbourne, Vic­ toria, on November 25, 1973, with R. T . Sympson, and R. J. Swindley the latter sighted a small sandpiper that was a stranger to us all. It was feeding on a short-grassed flat near the shore and moved to the muddy edge near the waterline on being dis­ turbed by us. It then commenced to feed near two Red-necked Stints, Calidris ruficollis, and some Red-capped Dotterels, Chara­ drius alexandrinus. It was dusky in general appearance, particularly on the upper­ parts but somewhat paler below, with medium-length bill and dark legs. It was a little, but noticeably, larger than the Red­ necked Stints and its bill and legs were longer than theirs. The attenuated shape of the bird was accentuated by the wings which appeared very long and crossed at the tail with the tips slightly, but obviously, exceeding the tail length. Identification problems immediately arose and while we were considering whether or not it might be a Baird's Sandpiper, Calidris bairdii, (a species since seen by Swindley and Smith) or perhaps a Western Sandpiper, C. mauri, it flew a short distance revealing a narrow white patch across the rump and was then recognised as the White-ruinped Sandpiper, C. fu scicollis. The bird was first noticed at about 11.30 hours and after studying it for over 20 minutes with 10 x 50 binoculars at dis­ tances as close as 9 m we decided to have lunch near it, keeping it under observation at the same time until approximately 12.40 hours. Although many small waders were in the area - mainly Red-necked Stints, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Calidris acuminata, and Curlew Sandpipers, C. ferruginea - it mostly fed alone and away from them. · 318 SMITH Bird [ Watcher It flew short distances a few times but never completely re­ tracted its legs and sometimes, on very short flights, they hung down in a similar attitude to those of a flying crake, Porzana. The legs were apparently not injured as the bird ran and walked about actively while feeding. In fact it was a busier feeder than the other wader species with which it was associating, except perhaps the Red-capped Dotterel. It probed rapidly with its bill, full length, into soft shore mud, and mud under a few millimetres of water. The probing was, at times, so rapid that the head seemed to blur. Sometimes, apart from probing, it made a quick snatch at surface food. Once it was seen coming to the muddy edge to feed with a series of short runs and abrupt stops which were reminiscent of the actions of a small dotterel-plover type. On one occasion it flew about 90 m to rocks in shallow water, where there were several Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, and went to sleep, head over back, among them for about ten minutes. Sud­ denly it woke and flew alone straight back to its previous feeding place. FIELD DESCRIPTION Size: Between Red-necked Stint and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, but longer-billed and longer-legged than the former, with a more drawn-out appearance. General appearance: A long slender bird tapering to a long point at the rear. Dark above and pale below with a finely streaked breast area. A medium-length bill with a fine decurve towards the tip. Upper-parts: Crown and nape mouse-grey, densely streaked darker with short fine streaks. Wing-coverts area variegated·dark and light brown with an odd scattered tinge of salmon-pink (probably an indication of moult). Primaries dark-brown. Tail dark-brown with a narrow arc of white across the rump. Supercilium long, pale­ grey (whitish). Under-parts: Chin pale-grey (whitish). Foreneck light-grey and streaked darker. Breast more boldly streaked with slightly longer and wider marks which ran thinly on to the sides and flanks. Abdomen, pale-grey (whitish). Under-tail-coverts whiter, but not clear white. Under-wing area, including axillaries, pale-grey (whitish). In flight: Upper-parts appeared all dark apart from the narrow white rump patch and a paling of the tips of the flight feathers which probably was another indication of moult or wear. There was no outstanding light wing-stripe. Bill: All dark, about half as long again as in the R ed-necked Stint and a little thicker generally, with an almost imperceptible decurve. Legs: Medium length for size of bird. Appeared all dark, but at close range, in sunlight when wet, there was a greenish-olive tinge. Eye: Dark. Call: Low, almost inaudible, single notes such as "chip" or "chit". (

Plate 51 Pho to by R . J. Swirl White-rumped Sandpiper at Lake Murdeduke. I

LATER OESER VATIONS The bird was observed several times by ourselves and others until it was last seen on February 10, 1974. During that time it appeared to have undergone a complete moult to full adult non­ breeding plumage, probably from remnants (when first seen) of juvenal plumage. The upper-parts were more neatly patterned, no longer showing the variegated patchiness that we saw earlier. On the last day of observation it fed often in water up to its under­ parts, submerging its head frequently to collect focd items from below the surface. REFERENCES Bannerman, D. A. & Lodge, G. E., 1961, Birds of the British Isles, 9:320-26. Bent, A. C., 1927, Life Histories of North A merican Shore Birds, 1:181-93. Bruun, B. & Singer, A., 1971. The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe, p. 132. Hall, N. M., 1960, A Gathering of Shore Birds, pp. 147-49. Heinzel, H. et al., 1972, The Birds of Britain and Europe, p. 136. Hollom, P. A. D., 1962, The Popular Handbook of British Birds, pp. 222, 4-23. I.C.P. Magazines, 1969, Birds of the World, 3:927-28. Peterson, R. T., 1961, A Field Guide to Western Birds, p. 113. Peterson, R. T., 1962, A Field Guide to the Birds, p. 96. Peterson, R . T., et al., 1961, A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, p. 128. Pough, R. H., 1951, Audubon Water Bird Guide, pp. 236-37. Robbins, C. S. et al., 1966, A Guide to Field Identification, Birds of North America, p. 124. 320 McCULLOCH: Scaly-breasted Lorikeets eating [ Bird Watcher scale-insects Seebohm, H., 1888, The Geographical Distribution of the Chara­ driidae, pp. 445-46. Smith, F.T.H., & Swindley, R. J., 1975, "A Victorian Record of Baird's Sandpiper," Australian Bird Watcher, 6:35-40. Stout, G. D. et al. , 1967, The Shorebirds of North America, pp. 223, 227. Snyder, L.L., 1957, Arctic Birds of Canada, pp. 158-61. Witherby, H. F. et al., 1947, The Handbook of British Birds, 4 :268-71. Group nesting of the White-necked Heron, Ardea pacifica, at Forbes, N.S.W. On April 26, 1976, we made a brief stop at a roadside swamp just south of F orbes in New South Wales. I was immediately struck by the number of White-necked Herons flying about and soon saw the reason why; nesting was in full swing. I counted 20 stick nests, all containing young. Most were in standing dead gum-trees in the water and one very large tree supported 5 nests, another 2. The nests ranged in height from 7.5 m to 24 m high. There were several empty nests. The largest number of young was 4 in one nest, 5 had 3 young, 10 had 2 young, 4 had 1 young. Two rather streaked young were on the ground, so some had already fledged. In "Birds in the Australian High Country," 1969, A. H. & A. W. Reed, G. F. van Tets states on p. 70 "usually single nests are found and they do not form nesting colonies but occas'onally a number of birds will nest in groups of adjacent trees." Obviously food abundance is a factor in such nesting and it would be of interest to see whether and when colony nesting is reported in this locality. · Ellen M . McCulloch, Mitcham, Victoria, 15/7/1976. Scaly-breasted Lorikeets eating scale-insects on Casuarinas, Myall Lakes, N.S.W. On May 17, 1976, while camped at Bombah Point on the Myall Lakes, N.S.W., I saw numbers of Scaly­ breasted Lorik~ets , Trichaglossus chlorolepidotus, f ~e din g at Melaleuca blossoms and on scale-insects which had heavily in­ fested several of the Casuarinas in the camping-ground. Recher, H. F., 1975, "Survey of the avifauna of the Myall Lakes, N.S.W.: report of the 1972 R.A.O.U. F ield-outing, Emu 75 :213-225 includes this species as one "commonly encountered" during that census, but does not record it in this swamp sclero­ phyll habitat. I counted over 100 individuals eating the scale-insects and they concentrated mainly in the Casuarinas all day although they occasionally moved to the Melaleucas for a short while. The leaves were nibbled along their length by the birds, which stayed in the upper half of the trees, although the scale-insects were found almost down to ground level. Large flocks of Noisy Friarbirds, Philemon corniculatus, were also recorded feeding on the Melaleuca blossoms. Ellen M. McCulloch, Mitcham, Victoria, 15/7/1976.