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A Sighting of a Green Sandpiper Tringa Ochropus at Danvin, Northern Territory

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A Sighting of a Green Sandpiper Tringa Ochropus at Danvin, Northern Territory VOL. 18 (6) JUNE2000 229 AUSTRALIAN BIRD WATCHER 2000, 18 , 229-232 A Sighting of a Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus at Danvin, Northern Territory by NIVEN McCRIE, P.O. Box 41382, Casuarina, N.T. 0811 Summary This note documents a sighting of a Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus at Darwin, Northern Territory, on 4 March 1998. The record has been accepted by the Birds Australia Rarities Committee (Case 239, Tony Palliser in litt. ), and is the first confirmed record fo r Australia. Introduction At about 1530 h on 4 March 1998, I observed a Green Sandpiper standing in a puddle of rainwater beside a track at the Shoal Bay rubbish tip on the northern outskirts of Darwin, Northern Territory. The bird was viewed in very good light at a distance estimated to be less than 20 m. Total observation time was only a few minutes and, though relatively brief, excellent views were obtained. When first seen, the Sandpiper was standing belly deep in the water. It waded towards the edge, into shallower water, where it remained for a short time, allowing clear views. It later flushed, providing good views of its back, rump and tail. After it flew in a broad arc, it returned, giving very clear views of the raised underwings as it came in to land, facing almost directly towards me. It quickly flushed again, giving a loud call, and disappeared over a rise. In that area there was a densely vegetated drain and, beyond that, a large inaccessible wetland. The bird did not return and was not found when the accessible area was searched. Other observers were informed, but despite extensive searches on several days at the original site and a number of other apparently suitable areas, it was not located again. Habitat The puddle at which the bird was observed was about 10 m long and had formed in a shallow depression in short grass between the mulching area of the tip and the access road to the landfill site. Along one side of the puddle were tall grass and some mud, and on the other (viewing) side, the track that passed the puddle was gravel with muddy edges. At each end of the puddle the grass was short, and broken by small areas of mud. There had been considerable rain on the morning of 4 March and in the few days before, and there were many shallow puddles in the area. Most of the puddles dried rapidly over the next couple of days and did not form to the same extent for the remainder of the wet season, as there was not sufficient continuous rain again. Description In overall shape and size, the bird was similar to a Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola, but was clearly not that species. Head and upperparts The crown was dark, heavily streaked and lacked any sense of the 'capped' appearance commonly associated with the Wood Sandpiper. The ear-coverts AUSTRALIAN 230 McCRIE BIRD WATCHER were dark, and streaked laterally. The lores were dark. There was a bold, broad white orbital ring, with a broad white supercilium which extended from the eye forward to the bill, but did not extend behind the eye. The hind-part of the orbital ring was clearly and fully demarcated from the dark feathers behind the eye and the whiteness of the orbital ring and supercilium contrasted greatly against the dark head. The back was dark grey-brown, with no conspicuous spotting or pale feather­ edges, and had the appearance of being worn, showing some general variegation to the overall dark coloration. The rump and tail were white. The end of the tail was marked with broad narrowly separated black bars. Wings The wings were dark, with some of the coverts showing dull spotting. One group of feathers, apparently the tertials, was blacker, with clear pale notching along the edges. The underwing lining was blackish, and noticeably darker than the primaries, which were dark grey, or dark grey-brown. There were some white spots on the underwing that contrasted strongly with the dark wing lining. The spots were possibly tips of the underwing-coverts, but did not seem to be uniformly spread, appearing to be unevenly scattered over the lining of the underwing. Underparts The breast was dark and densely streaked, and quite clearly demarcated from the remainder of the underparts which were white. Bare parts The bill was dark, long and rather slender. The legs were dull, dark grey­ green. During most of the observation, the legs were partially submerged, so that it was difficult to obtain a clear indication of their length. When the Sandpiper landed after the first time it flushed, it seemed rather short-legged, although there was no other bird with which to directly compare it. It was not noted how far the feet extended beyond the tail in flight. Voice On flushing, the bird towered up quite steeply, giving a loud, rather shrill tee­ tee-tee call. The call matched descriptions of calls of the Green Sandpiper in Hayman et al. (1986) and Ali & Ripley (1980). Identification The Green Sandpiper is superficially similar to two other Tringa sandpipers: the Wood Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper T solitaria. The latter, an American species not yet reported in Australia, is distinctive in having a wholly dark rump. T he bird at D arwin had a white rump, so was not a Solitary Sandpiper. The following features, based on descriptions in Hayman et al. (1986) and Cramp & Simmons (1983), as well as personal observations of m_any Wood Sandpipers over a long period, identify the bird at Darwin as a Green Sandpiper and allow unequivocal distinction from the Wood Sandpiper, which is very common in the Darwin area. VOL. 18 (6) JUNE2000 Sighting of a Green Sandpiper at Darwin 231 The underwing was wholly dark except for a few whitish spots, apparently the tips of some of the underwing-coverts. The underwing-coverts were blackish, and noticeably darker than the remiges, which were dark grey-brown. On the Wood Sandpiper, the underwing-coverts are very pale grey and clearly lighter in tone than the remiges, which are grey-brown. The supercilium was broad and extended from the orbital ring forward to the bill, but did not extend behind the eye, matching very closely illustration 143b, 'Plate 58, in Hayman et al. (1986). The orbital ring and supercilium of the Wood Sandpiper are less bold, and the supercilium extends from the bill to the ear­ coverts. The tail was marked with broad black bars so that, when the bird was in flight, the tail showed a clear contrasting black-and-white pattern. In the Wood Sandpiper, the bars are very narrow and greyer, and appear to blend together so that in flight the end of the tail looks dark grey. The legs were dark grey-green and rather short. The legs of the Wood Sandpiper vary in colour within a narrow range from warm light brown to yellowish or bright olive, and are longer. Distribution The Green Sandpiper breeds from Scandinavia and eastern Europe, through central Asia to eastern Siberia, with an isolated population in Kyrgyzstan and north-western Xinjiang. It winters in Africa, the Middle East, India, Japan, China and South-East Asia (de! Hoyo et al. 1996) where it visits the Philippines (du Pont 1971) and northern Borneo (Smythies 1981), and less commonly occurs in Singapore (Seng & Gardner 1997), Java (MacKinnon & Phillipps 1993), the Greater Sundas and Sulawesi (Andrew 1992, Coates & Bishop 1997). There is one confirmed record from New Guinea, although it is possibly a more regular visitor to western New Guinea (Beehler et al. 1986). A report of a Green Sandpiper east of Darwin at Kapalga on 22 September 1979 (McKean 1980) remains unconfirmed (Higgins & Davies 1996). It is not unexpected that the Green Sandpiper might occur from time to time in northern Australia, given the species' long-distance migration and the vast areas of suitable habitat available during the wet season. References Ali, S. & Ripley, S.D. (1980), Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, vol. 2, Oxford University Press, London. Andrew, P. (1992), The Birds of Indonesia: A Checklist (Peters ' Sequence), Indonesian Ornithological Society, Jakarta. Beehler, B., Pratt, T. & Zimmerman, D. (1986), Birds of New Guinea, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. Coates, B. & Bishop, K. (1997), A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea, Dove Publications, Alderley, Qld. Cramp, S. & Simmons, K. E.L. (Eds) (1983), The Birds of the Western Palearctic, vol. 3, Oxford University Press, Oxford. del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (Eds) (1996), Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 3, Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. du Pont, J.E. (1971), Philippine Birds, Delaware Museum of Natural History, Delaware. Hayman, P., Marchant, J. & Prater, A.J. (1986), Shorebirds: An Identification Guide to the Waders of the World, Croom Helm, Kent. AUSTRALIAN 232 McCRIE BIRD WATCHER Higgins, P.J. & Davies, S.J.J.F. (Eds) (1996), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds, vol. 3, Oxford University Press, Melbourne. MacKinnon, J. & Phillipps, K. (1993), A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali, Oxford Umversity Press, Oxford. McKean, J. L. (1980), 'A sight record of the Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus from the Northern Territory', Aust. Bird Watcher 8, 165-166. Seng, L. & Gardner, D. (1997), Birds: An Illustrated Guide to the Birds of Singapore, Sun Tree, Singapore. Smythies, B. (1981), The Birds of Borneo, 3rd edn, The Sabah Society, Sabah. Received 25 October 1999 • .
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