Mid-winter at Inskip

 This post is for World Bird Wednesday

Last week I went out to Inskip Point on a high tide very early in the morning.  I wanted to see what shorebirds were still here in mid-winter.  It was early enough that there were very few people around and it didn't look as if the birds had been disturbed.
There was a small group of Crested Terns, with a couple of Caspian Terns and a Gull-billed Tern.  Standing with them were a few Silver Gulls and a Pied Oystercatcher.  These are all birds that are commonly seen here at the Point.

It was not the highest tide in the cycle so shorebirds might well have been roosting on other exposed sand banks.  I only saw two Bar-tailed Godwits.  At this time of the year these are most likely juveniles that stay here for the winter instead of migrating to the northern hemisphere to breed.

The surprise of the morning was quite a large group of Grey-tailed Tattlers.  I estimated about 200 birds.  This is a much larger group than I have seen here at this time of the year.  They were roosting right at the end of the point but disturbed each time a car came out to get on the barge over to Fraser Island.  When they finally flew off they went out to the sand island in the middle of the strait.

There are always Red-capped Plovers somewhere out here.  (These are shorebirds that stay in Australia all year.)  I saw a small flock roosting in the dry sand in wheel tracks.   The early morning light made shadows out of the indentations in the sand and it was easy to see how these tiny birds are so hard to see until they move.

There were also a few birds running along the edge of the water and with the sun behind me it made much better photos.

I also saw a few Double-banded Plovers at the edge of the water.  These little shorebirds breed on the braided river channels in south New Zealand but come here to Australia to spend the winter.