Waders at Two Tree Island

23rd August 2024

Nearly three weeks since my last visit on the 4th August so time to see if any more waders have joined the roost. I was just driving over the bridge on to the island when I looked down and saw a Curlew close by on the mud. I quickly parked up and went back to grab a few shots before it walked away up the creek.

It was still four hours away from high tide and the mud either side of the slipway was totally devoid of birds, so I went straight to Monty's Lookout for some breakfast. I had only just sat dwn and a flock of 12 Common Terns flew through and it was encouraging to see that they were mostly young birds......................

.......................and during my stay a couple of birds were on or around the lagoon.

And relax!!!

Next to the Black-tailed Godwits, Redshanks were the commonest birds.

The water levels on the lagoon were quite high so there was a lot of flight action while jostling for position.

On my last visit there were two pairs of resident Oytercatchers on the islands but today they had gone leaving just one juvenile.

Avocets are always well represented at Two Tree Island and today was no exception with about 50 on the lagoon.

What is better than an Avocet in flight?

So what about the roost? Well today was an absolute puzzle. As said previously I arrived at the hide four hours before high tide and you would expect there to be very few birds present as they would all be out feeding on the estuary mud,, but instead there was an estimated 700 birds present. As on my last visit diversity was very low with just Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Avocets and a single Oystercatcher present.

And single Black-tailed Godwits were still flying in long before high tide................

.....................and then wave after wave after wave.

It then went very quiet for an hour as if the whole roost of 1000+ birds was in, still three hours before high tide.

A total mystery but still an amazing spectacle.