Painted Snippets the Newsletter of the Australian Painted Snipe Project
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Painted Snippets The newsletter of the Australian Painted Snipe Project Volume 4 May 2012 A stunning female bathes herself, unperturbed by onlookers at Canberra’s Kelly Swamp. Photo: David Stowe None of us would have predicted the events Just add water which unfolded in the months that followed, It’s been an eventful 2 years since our last when one-in-10-year rains extended south edition of Painted Snippets hit the stands. After from the tropics and caused extensive flooding the 2008/09 summer, our concerns for the throughout 4 states, rejuvenating wetland and species were reinforced by a return of just 11 river systems throughout the Murray Darling, individuals observed across Australia. Bulloo-Bancannia and Lake Eyre Basins as well as across the Top End. Once the floods began to subside, observers Contents ventured out, discovering ephemeral wetlands which, in some cases, hadn’t been inundated in 1. Just Add Water 20 years! Soon enough, Australian Painted 2. Around the soggy grounds Snipe (APS) records started rolling in. With 5. Déjà vu 2005 conditions remaining wet throughout the year 6. A bird in the hand and Tropical Cyclone Yasi providing similar flows in early 2011, the last 2 years have seen 7. BirdLife Australia Wetland Birds Project over 400 individual APS1 recorded (Fig 2)across 8. iBis for your iPhone every state and territory except Tasmania, in 8. APS EPBC listing upgrade what has been true testament to the 9. Moolort Plains wetland project opportunistic nature of this enigmatic wader. 9. APS surveys. How to contribute to species conservation. Chris Purnell, Threatened Bird Network 1 This is the assumed number of individuals, accounting for resightings within regions and is an upper estimate. Around the soggy grounds Survey results for the period from October 2009 to February 2012. Figure 1. Drought refuges: APS cling to coastal and ACT Riverina sites in years of poor rainfall like this in 2006. A total of 4 birds were recorded in 2011 from 2 sites in our nation’s capital. This included 3 threatened-species staff seemed to be tripping individuals which received much attention from over the species at every turn. One birders, passers by and media alike, less than observation from the wetlands toppled the 4km from Parliament. record for number APS flocking at one site2, with a staggering 57 individuals. NSW However, it was the number of records which Historically, wetlands throughout the Riverina came from new sites which proved the most have provided reliable sanctuary for APS encouraging. APS were observed at wetlands populations during drought periods (Fig. 1), so throughout the NSW, from the coast to the it was no surprise that we received reports remote gibber country in the state’s far west. totalling 90 individuals from 9 sites within the Interestingly, despite the proliferation of region. This included 3 breeding records and 2 freshwater wetlands throughout the state, wetlands which boasted up to 30 individuals there was a surprising number of observations each. from saline saltmarsh habitats. Records also came in from other sites including the Hawkesbury, Hunter, Gwydir Wetlands and the Macquarie Marshes, where NSW OHE A flock of 30 APS was observed by Peter Merritt by a NSW rice paddy. Photo: Geoff Jones 2 The previous record, set in 2001, stood at 40 birds and originated from Seven Mile Lagoon in the Lockyer Valley. 2 Newsletter Headine Figure 2. Observations of Australian Painted Snipe (N.B. Something missing? If you know of an observation not shown below, please report it.) NT The wetlands of the NT’s tropical north are thought to be regularly used by migrating birds outside the summer months as they leave south-eastern Australia to feed on the retreating monsoonal wetlands. It is typically a difficult region to survey, but the same can’t be said for the wide open spaces of the Alice Springs Sewage Works, where observers are regularly treated to migratory birds dropping in to wet their bills on transit. In 2010 this included 2 Australian Painted Snipe which stayed for a week and then disappeared to find their next arid oasis. Another single bird was observed on a private property south of McMinns Lagoon in the Darwin region. QLD Members of BirdLife Australia North Queensland were kept busy chasing up sightings from Mt Eisa to Mt Carbine, while others like Dominic Chaplin from Mareeba were lucky enough to have them take up residence in their backyards. While many of the APS records which originated from the Sunshine State came from what we would consider “typical” habitat, a few records raised eyebrows as birds A rare look at APS prey. Bowra Station: Eric Tan Month 2012 3 Nth Stradbroke Island: Glen Carruthers dispersed to some unlikely sites. These included a stormwater drain behind a Townsville retirement home and the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens. However, the most unlikely sighting of recent times came from North Stradbroke Island. This is one of only a handful of records from islands, and to observe the species on the edge of a sandy track in the middle of heathland (right) was particularly atypical! SA The eastern states weren’t the only ones to benefit from rain events in the Murray Darling Basin; South Australians were happy to see the waters arrive along the Murray and in the North East of the state through the Channel Country, in addition to local rains. Australian Painted Snipe returned to historic sites like Bool Lagoon in the South East and the Greenfields wetlands to the north of Adelaide. They were also observed on the eastern and western sides of the central Flinders Ranges and as far north as the Coongie Lakes on the Cooper Creek floodplain, where researchers from Deakin University caught a lone male while conducting waterfowl migration studies. VIC As with NSW, Victoria’s Northern Country was inundated by floods in September 2010, with the water only beginning to recede in early 2011, and APS sightings soon followed. First it was a trickle of sightings throughout historic sites within the Loddon River Basin. Then, after an uncharacteristically southerly winter record from south of the Grampians, birders started to scan the edges of every wetland. By the end of 2011, 23 birds had been reported from 9 sites within 100km of Melbourne CBD. There were also a couple of casualties reported in the state (read more on page 6). WA Some of the most reliable Australian Painted Snipe sites in Australia are in the Kimberley and Gascoyne regions, so it was surprising to get our first sighting for summer 2010 from within the Beeliar Wetlands system, 20km south of Perth. In line with migration-ecology theories, sightings in the north followed in autumn and winter. Birds were observed on the Roebuck Plains, at the Argyle Diamond Mine and on a tiny ephemeral swale in Parry Lagoons NP. By spring, the devastating floodwaters which had hit Carnarvon early in 2011 were receding, creating ideal conditions for Australian Painted Snipe, and they arrived in droves. 4 Newsletter Headine Roadside swale, Kerang: Chris Tzaros Déjà vu 2005 Recent excursions to ephemeral wetlands in McNeill Claypan stir up not-too-distant memories for local Les George. I went to the south-western side of McNeill Claypan this morning. I had seen a lot of Black-winged Stilts in this area on 1 October, and on wading out onto some of the newly emerged islands had found one nest with two eggs, though the behaviour of the majority of these birds suggested to me that there would be a colonial nesting. There were also a couple of other nests that I would visit: a Tawny Frogmouth McNeill Claypan: Les George and Nankeen Kestrel nest in the same tree and a small or secondary Little Pied Cormorant rookery. It became obvious when I neared the northern end of the Black- winged Stilt colony, their yap yapping and distraction or leading displays, there was no way I could get near without every living species hearing the warning that danger approached. A short distance onward I stopped to try and identify and count waders in the middle distance. When I moved again I heard the now familiar soft wing-beats of an Australian Painted Snipe taking off: 2 were seen flying out and landing in the water, with only their heads and backs visible. They waded/swam about 1.5 metres to a small, sparse clump of Lignum where they hid for a time before making their way to a small island with sparse Spike Rush. Then they moved forward furtively a couple more times before resting behind raised mounds of grass rootlets, where a small flock of Red-kneed Dotterels was feeding. The Australian Painted Snipe appeared to be a pair, a male and a female. They would have known that I was still present, whether they could see me or not, as the stilts were still giving their alarm calls. I walked perhaps a further 200 metres and the ground from under a Coolabah erupted. “Ahh, bulls**t” I said, as I knew I had stumbled upon a large group of this enigmatic species, impossible to count as they flew in all directions. However, none had flown far, so I moved to the south of the tree from under which they had flushed for a clearer view and counted 20. Rather than risk putting them all to flight again, I thought it prudent to walk a bit further, and 4 more flew from the shade of another Coolabah, and movement was seen beneath another further on; perhaps it was some Black-tailed Native-hens.