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Wild BNE farewells the waders

Lesser sand plover, Wellington Point; Photo by Matteo Grilli.

 Wild BNE's first meet-up last Sunday was a success, with a total of eight people heading out onto King Island off the coast of Wellington Point to view the marine life.

Red-necked stint, Wellington Point; Photo by Matteo Grilli.

 Star attractions of the day were the wading birds preparing to fly north for their boreal breeding season; some, such as the red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) will fly as far as the western coast of Alaska over the next few weeks, despite weighing just 25 grams!
Besides the stints, lesser sand plovers (Charadrius mongolus), bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica), grey-tailed tattlers (Tringa brevipes), eastern curlews (Numenius madagascariensis) and ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres) were also seen, most in their breeding plumage to varying degrees.
Slender skimmer (Orthetrum sabina), Wellington Point; Photo by Matteo Grilli.

 These birds and many other creatures were captured on camera by guests on the day, including Matteo Grilli, who kindly sent me these photos to share on the blog.

 Not only is Matteo a fantastic photographer, he is also an incredibly talented and successful wildlife artist; If you aren't already familiar with his superb blog, now is your chance to rectify that!

 I had a wonderful day with Matteo, Ros, John, Judith, Chad, Gillian and Renate—thank you all so much for coming along and helping to create a great experience!
King Island adventurers! Wellington Point.

 As we headed back to the mainland, the fiddler crabs—including a grey-clawed species unique to South-east Queensland—appeared to be waving us farewell, bringing to close a great day out in lovely Moreton Bay.
Two-toned fiddler crabs (Uca vomeris), Wellington Point; Photo by Matteo Grilli.

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Comments

  1. Liz24 March 2016 at 12:41

    I'm so bummed that I missed your meet up! I was really looking forward to it. What a buzz to see so many waders and some would have been lifers for me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christian Perrin24 March 2016 at 15:36

      That's ok Liz, there will be more meet-ups and I will be delighted to meet you whenever it happens :)

      Delete
  2. Margaret Birding For Pleasure24 March 2016 at 17:20

    Sounded like a wonderful day's birding and you saw a goodly number of waders.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Matteo Grilli24 March 2016 at 18:44

    Thank you Christian, it was a great day. Looking forward to the next one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christian Perrin25 March 2016 at 08:10

      Thank you Matteo for coming along and for sharing such great pictures, people have been commenting on the Facebook page about them and see Phil's comment below too :)

      Delete
  4. Phil Slade24 March 2016 at 19:06

    Hi Christian. Birding in shorts and T shirts is the Real McCoy. You saw some great species there and it never seases to amaxe me that we share species like Bar-tailed Godwit and Turnstone. Even Red-necked Stint - very occasionally.

    I took a look at Matteo's blog. Such natural and gifted talent one can only admire.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christian Perrin25 March 2016 at 08:14

      Glad you took the time to visit Matteo's blog, Phil! And yes, those waders sure do get around a bit! I remember hiking through the Norwegian hills in summer and finding nesting golden plovers, thinking "I see you guys on the mudflats in Australia". I'll try send you a red-necked stint or two in exchange for some ruffs haha!

      Delete

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