Mangrove Roosts

This morning I took advantage of an early tide and good weather to kayak around to a shorebird roost that I haven't visited for a few weeks. This roost is quite close to the channel leading out from the Mullens picnic area. However, immediately in front of the roost the water is very shallow – great for a kayak but I don't think even a small fishing 'tinny' and outboard would get in here.

A passing fisherman

There is a small stretch of sandy beach and sometimes there are birds roosting there. However, the mangroves fringing the shoreline always have roosting birds. It is the only place that I have found Terek Sandpipers around the bay. There is usually a mixed flock of Terek Sandpipers and Grey-tailed Tattlers, but the Tattlers are also found in lots of other places around the bay. This morning my estimate was at least 150 birds roosting in the mangroves, but I was not fast enough to see how many Grey-tailed Tattlers and how many Terek Sandpipers. Both these species prefer a mangrove with exposed branches where they can get a good view of any intruders.

A mangrove tree with roosting Terek Sandpipers

I then paddled up the creek to where I have sometimes found Whimbrels. These birds also roost in mangroves but they roost in the higher more leafy branches and are very hard to see. There are always one or two birds on an exposed top branch which seem to act as look-outs for the ones that are lower down. If you get too close the whole flock will fly noisily out of the mangroves. The birds this morning were not settled and portions of the roosting flock kept flying up and then resettling. I estimated about 40 birds but there could have been considerably more that I could not see.