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Curlew Sandpiper, Silver Gull

Curlew Sandpiper, Silver Gull (Image ID 47684)
Photographed byMichael Hamel-Green on Tue 13th Jul, 2021 and uploaded on Fri 20th Aug, 2021 .
Resolution1800x852
Viewed142
ID47684
CommentThese Curlew Sandpipers were feeding in shallow water as the tide receded on the Werribee Treatment Plant shoreline. They were joined by an immature Silver Gull (still with some black in its beak, and dark legs, most likely a 2-year old). The Curlew Sandpipers are mainly juveniles who stay behind over two Australian winters while their intrepid parents leave around April for their annual epic 13,000 km journeys to their Russian Arctic breeding grounds: Chosha Bay east to Kolyuchiskaya Bay, the Chukchi Peninsula, and the New Siberian Islands. And about now, July to August, the parents begin their return trip to Australia via the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, arriving at Werribee and other Australian coastal stretches over August and September. Hopefully, lockdowns permitting, I will see the returning adult Sandpipers on my next Werribee visit. I will certainly look at these amazingly resilient birds with renewed awe and respect: tiny bundles of feathers, with down-curving beaks, grey wings, and black feet, who have just flown to the other side of the globe and back, some 26,000 km in a mere six months, facing so many terrors along the way…extreme weather events, hunters, environmental pollution, predators, reduced river flows, sea-level rise, wetland degradation, and coastal urban and industrial expansion. It is little wonder that all these multiplying threats are having a devastating impact on Curlew Sandpiper populations. Over a 23-year survey period to 2008, numbers visiting Australia declined by 50%-70% (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/856-conservation-advice.pdf). They are now listed as critically endangered in Victoria and many other parts of Australia. The youngster Silver Gull, of course, has a somewhat less demanding life ahead of it, although apparently even gulls in neighbouring New Zealand are now in decline due to agricultural practices. Silver Gulls, of course, have turned scavenging into a fine art, perhaps driven to this by reduced fish availability in seas and inland waters, and are also, sadly, prone to stealing food and eggs from other birds. Hope this is not why Curlew Sandpipers feel they have to travel to the other side of the globe to hatch their eggs.
EquipmentNikon Z7ii, Nikon 500mm PF f5.6
ISO 800
1/4000th f6.3
LocationWerribee Treatment Plant, Werribee, Victoria
Keywordsnon-breeding plumage/features
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