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The Grey Plover on Mud Islands, Victoria by ROY WHEELER, M Elbourne

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The Grey Plover on Mud Islands, Victoria by ROY WHEELER, M Elbourne December] WHEELER, Grey Plover 107 1960 of occasions birds have collapsed near where I was standing and in most cases I have been able to revive them. While they were unconscious I placed them on a hot-water bottle in a box, and then, as they commenced to stir, I give them drops of warm nectar. This helped to revive them and shortly they were hungrily drinking from a spoon. I kept them indoors until they were looking normal again and until the day had warmed up, and when freed they flew off quite strongly. The essential thing in these cases is to reach the bird quickly, for they die very soon after they have collapsed. (vii) Modern houses, with large windows, must cause numerous avian casualties. In my own home the large windows of the living­ room are directly opposite, in the north and south walls, so that birds can see right through them to the garden beyond. Hardly a day passes without several birds hitting a window, not realising it is a barrier, but most are unhurt. However, during the past five years, a number of birds have been stunned and I have recorded 28 killed (Rufous and Golden Whistlers, Flame Robin, Spotted Pardalote, Silvereye, White-browed Scrub-wren, Goldfinch, House and Tree Sparrows, Blackbird, and Indian Turtledove, as well as Yellow-winged, White-naped, White-plumed and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Eastern Spinebill, and Red Wattlebird). The majority of the birds are honeyeaters, not only because their numbers are greatest, but also because of their addiction to high­ speed chases, when their speed is such that they have no time to recognise a window before they hit it. However, these collisions are rarely fatal. Treatment for those who are rendered unconscious is similar to that given for cold and starvation - confinement in a warm box, and feeding with warm nectar. This generally brings the bird around, and after an hour or so it is ready to be released, though probably with a bad headache. The Grey Plover on Mud Islands, Victoria By ROY WHEELER, M elbourne Just inside the entrance to Port Phillip Bay lies a low group of islands known as Mud Islands. T hese islands have long been ornithologically famous as one of the few land-locked islands on which the White-faced Storm-Petrel breed. T hey are also a resting and feeding place for many migratory waders including the Grey Plover (Squatarola squatarola). The Grey Plover breeds on the arctic tundras of Europe and Asia and visits Australia on migration each year between August and April. It is considered a rare wader on the eastern and southern shores of Australia but not uncommon along the western coastline. It inhabits tidal flats, ocean beaches, inlets and estuaries. Laurie Amiet (1 957) , in a wader survey of the Queensland coast, found the species between Cairns and Moreton Bay to be sparsely distributed and considered it far from plentiful. He recorded the 108 WHEELER, Grey Plover [ Bird Watcher Grey Plover on 16 occasions between September and April. Prior to his observations there had been only seven Queensland reports and all except one were from islands off the coast. The largest group he recorded comprised six birds. The first record for New South Wales came from Dubbo, where a specimen was collected in February, 1880. This inland record is still the only report of the Grey Plover away from the coastal areas. It was fitst reported near Sydney by A. R. McGill in August, 1944 (1944). Single birds, occasionally two, have been recorded in the Sydney districts since then. In Victoria, Belcher (1914) writes, "We have in the Geelong Museum the only example of the Grey Plover which I have seen from the district. It was shot by Mr. L. Buckland in February, 1893, at Mud Island, when in company with a number of Lesser Golden Plover". On Mud Islands today it is still to be seen in company with Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominicus). In recent years the species has been recorded at Portland, Barwon Heads, Little River and Altona but, other than at Mud Islands, the largest party recorded was four birds. It has been recorded from Tasmania in most bird books over the years, but Leonard E. Wall, in a personal letter, states that a Grey Plover taken near the Cambridge Aerodrome recently (March, 1960) was the first positive record that he knew for Tasmania. In South Australia the records are also few and scattered, mainly single birds from Kangaroo Island, Stansbury, Encounter Bay, Kingston, etc. In Western Australia, Serventy and Whittell (1951) state: "A summer migrant from the Northern Hemisphere. Small parties are not uncommon on the ocean beaches and also the estuaries and inlets, including Swan River and around the south-west". In conversation with Dr. D. L. Serventy in April, 1960, he told me that possibly ten birds would be the largest group of Grey Plover that he had seen in Western Australia. In New Zealand it was first reported in January, 1947, and again in January, 1949. It was recently recorded on Lord Howe Island. Recent observations from Mud Islands are in complete variance to the records made elsewhere in Australasian waters. Over the years only small numbers of the birds had been seen on the islands, mostly in ones or twos, but in 1953 a change was reported. H. E. Tarr and a companion visited the islands and camped there from October 31 until November 7, 1953, and he states (1954) that the Grey Plover was noted in parties of up to ten birds and possibly 40 birds on the islands. In late January (Australia Day week-end), 1955, a party including the late P. Crosbie Morrison, visited the islands and listed the remarkable total of 120 Grey Plover, includ­ ing a flock of at least 90 birds. The Altona Survey Group started their regular excursions to Mud Islands on the Australia Day week-end in January, 1957, for the purpose of ringing the White-faced Storm-Petrel, and at the D ecember J NIELSON, Bird Notes from Queensland 109 1960 same time to check on the wader populations. During the three days 90 Grey Plover, including a main party of 60 birds were recorded. On a visit during the same week-end in 1958, the numbers had dropped to 50 birds, including a single flock of 40 birds, while in 1959 the number had decreased further and only 30 birds were seen, the main group numbering 24. The last visit that has been made was in late January and early February, 1960, and it revealed an increase to 64 birds with a main group of 30 birds. What has caused the Grey Plover to flock in such numbers on Mud Islands in recent years? I can only hazard a guess. The largest lagoon on the islands, which is the main feeding area for the Grey Plover and other waders, has shown signs of silting up during recent years. It is now more shallow than in past years and this naturally allows a larger area to be used for feeding purposes by waders of the size of the Grey Plover. Perhaps there are other reasons for the flocking of this comparitively rare wader on Mud Islands. Other visits may reveal the secret, who knows? Finally the only comparable figures to the Mud Islands reports in the nearer Pacific area is from New Guinea in 1943. Mr. A. J . Tubb says: "In one flock, observed at Parimana Point (near Port Moresby) on October 29, more than 40 birds were counted" (1943) . REFERENCES AMIET, L. 1957. Emu, 57: 244. BELCHER, C. F. 1914. The Birds of the District of Geelong, Australia. 77 . McGILL, A. R. 1944. Emu, 45 : 275. SERVENTY, D. L., & WHilJ"ELL, 1'f: M., 1951. Birds of Western Australia. 151. TARR, H. E. 1954. The Bird Observer. February, 1954. Bird Notes from Queensland By LLOYD NIELSON, Jandowac, Queensland During the last two years of my residence in the Allora district, south-eastern Queensland, I was able to concentrate on the bird­ life and work the district fairly well. This area was the best place for birds that I have seen. In two years, I recorded nearly two hundred species. Had I stayed there for a longer period, no doubt I would have met with occasional "accidental" and other new arrivals. The district was also one of the most picturesque I have had the pleasure to look upon. From various lookouts on the Great Dividing Range, one could see to the south the McPherson Ranges, towards the north an expanse that merged into a blue haze, and to the coast in the east. Dalrymple Creek, with its waterfalls, weeping willows, casuarinas, and crystal-clear pools, is in itself beautiful, to say nothing of the mountains which fall steeply away to the valley-bed below. .
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