SIPO @ Stockyard Point

This is a quite belated post about the South-Island Pied Oystercatcher at Stockyard Point, aka 1N, aka the SIPO, aka Syd.

Basically, it was banded at Stockyard Point in August 2016, but only identified as a Pied Oystercatcher of the South Island variety when it was noticed at Broadwater Beach in NSW in January 2017. These guys are supposed to be in New Zealand - twitching commence!

South Island Pied Oystercatcher, Stockyard Point, 24 June, 2017.

Many birders got to see the bird while it was in NSW. Then in June Simon Starr thought to check back at Stockyard Point in case it had returned to Victoria - and it had! Thank you, Simon!

I couldn't make it down until the following weekend but luckily there were continued sightings during the week and it looked like the SIPO was going to be hanging around.

South Island Pied Oystercatcher at the front, Australian Pied Oystercatchers at the back

So I arrived at about 8.00am on the Saturday and found a lone birder on the beach just in front of the carpark. He was watching a group of Oystercatchers feeding in the sunshine and said the SIPO was out there. I set up the scope and the first bird that came into view was the SIPO - a longer bill, shorter legs and conveniently labelled '1N'. Easy!

First dodgey attempt at phonescoping the SIPO!

It really had seemed a bit too easy so when the flock took off towards the point we followed them down. It had turned dark and overcast by the time we got there and there were only a few Australian Pied Oystercatchers on the mud to greet us. But behind us, a huge flock of maybe 70 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flew over to French Island, which was an awesome sight.

Mud + clouds.

And after a while some Gull-billed turns arrived, including the well-known affinis bird that hangs out here.

Gull-billed Terns, affinis on the left

More birders turned up and the SIPO was relocated on the far mud flats for some very distant views. As the tide came in birds started moving over to the point, including the SIPO.

The first of many twitchers...

The tide continued to rise, the weather cleared up and both birds and birders continued to gather on the point. A lovely big flock of small waders came flying over - another awesome sight, especially in winter - and landed just in front of us. There were Double-banded Plovers in breeding colours, Curlew Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints, Red-capped Plovers, some actually red Red Knots and the super-cute Terek Sandpiper.

Small selection of small shorebirds.

Terek Sandpiper - super cute!

Then some of the bigger waders arrived: Bar-tailed Godwits and Eastern Curlews. A few more Eastern Curlews circled overhead but didn't land, and with them was a single Whimbrel. This greatly excited the assembled bird nerds - and they were already pretty excited. Some were saying it was one of their best ever birding experiences. So many nice birds, and so many nice birders - yay, birding!

Bar-tailed Godwits

Bar-tailed Godwits and friends.

Eastern Curlew

And it was pretty good. If it hadn't been so cold you could almost have imagined you were in Broome for a moment looking through the scope. But yeah, it was freezing so no, you were not in Broome. And I guess you would have had to ignore the Double-Banded Plovers too...

No more mud.

The tide got seriously high and the SIPO made another appearance with his OZPO mates on the point.

SIPO + OZPO

Another sighting of our little New Zealand friend seemed a nice bookend to an awesome day's birding. So when the tide started to fall, I headed back up the beach and managed to get back to the car without getting my feet wet. Or having to bush-bash. Or disappearing in the mud. More win!