The morning low tide was, as usual, dominated by the resident crocodiles (and there were 5 today) including a rather small one just over a metre long.
Then there was a flash of white and red that flew past the main bridge towards the sand bar. Could this be a redshank? One of the over-summering ones or a returning adult?
My first thought was that the two birds seen were over-summering juveniles. This is now some doubt as to whether the two birds in the videoclip are over-summering redshanks which did not return north with the larger group of shore birds in late April. After the main group had left in late April, there were about 7 redshanks seen in the weeks after at SBWR throughout the better part of May, occasionally being seen at the sand bar south of the bridge in the main river.
Given that one of the two birds has a geolocater in addition to the green-white tags, this means that the geolocater bird is not a juvenile and likely did return North (likely to the summer grounds in the Tibetan plateau) in April-May.
About two weeks ago, I had seen one redshank zoom past the main bridge but this was identified solely by a guess after momentarily seeing a very noticeable pair of red legs. This had been my first sighting of a redshank after even the over-summering redshanks had disappeared around mid-May. Perhaps this lone bird has been part of the over-summering group which had found another better place to roost.
Towards the end of the clip, a resident collared kingfisher greets the returning redshanks by dive-bombing one of the redshanks. Looks like SBWR is gearing up for the return of the migratory shore birds in August. It has begun.
Then there was a flash of white and red that flew past the main bridge towards the sand bar. Could this be a redshank? One of the over-summering ones or a returning adult?
My first thought was that the two birds seen were over-summering juveniles. This is now some doubt as to whether the two birds in the videoclip are over-summering redshanks which did not return north with the larger group of shore birds in late April. After the main group had left in late April, there were about 7 redshanks seen in the weeks after at SBWR throughout the better part of May, occasionally being seen at the sand bar south of the bridge in the main river.
Given that one of the two birds has a geolocater in addition to the green-white tags, this means that the geolocater bird is not a juvenile and likely did return North (likely to the summer grounds in the Tibetan plateau) in April-May.
About two weeks ago, I had seen one redshank zoom past the main bridge but this was identified solely by a guess after momentarily seeing a very noticeable pair of red legs. This had been my first sighting of a redshank after even the over-summering redshanks had disappeared around mid-May. Perhaps this lone bird has been part of the over-summering group which had found another better place to roost.
Towards the end of the clip, a resident collared kingfisher greets the returning redshanks by dive-bombing one of the redshanks. Looks like SBWR is gearing up for the return of the migratory shore birds in August. It has begun.
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