Captain Stevenson's Point 21 October 2019

We had a very interesting visit to Captain Stevensons Point on the afternoon of 20 October.  For those not familiar with the area, its the point at the end of the main campground.  I have indicated it with a red arrow.  Most of the action was in the red box - which was sandier than when Google Earth acquired its image.

 Here is a photo showing the large flock of terns immediately visible when we arrived.  The waders are mixed up in there as well.  In recent times the birds have tended to be on the far side of the point just sticking in from the left of the image.

 On a couple of occasions something spooked the birds causing them to swirl.

 Getting some optical assistance and a fair amount of diversity was apparent.

Most of the photographs from here on are digiscoped so are a tad subject to

• shaking around as  as the phone gets blown by the wind; and
• fuzziness when I had the scope at 60x magnification and the phone on full zoom!

Its still amazing technology compared to the old naval scopes (let alone what a phone could do 30 years ago - basically make telephone calls and nothing else!)

Here are some Bar-tailed Godwits mixed in with the Crested Terns.

 Lots of terns!  Counting by 10s I estimated there were 510 birds in the flock

I noticed this very small tern with a similar friend.  My first thought was a late White-fronted Tern but I have since identified it as a Little Tern in non-breeding plumage

 Here is the non-breeder with one of 10 Little Terns in breeding plumage.  I was very surprised to see so many Little Terns and was very pleased when a Silver Gull came by and looked HUGE by comparison!

Just before the flock was spooked by a Whistling Kite I spotted a Whiskered Tern sitting conveniently in front of the flock.  Either there is a lot of coincidence going on or there are two birds of this species in the area at present.

A closer view.

This next bird is possibly an outcome of string theory.  Its bill looks straight and its tail looks black so I am trying to turn it into a Black-tailed Godwit.  I'd welcome comments on this - and got one on the FB page saying it's a Bar-tailed Godwit.  (It was a surprisingly aggressive bird picking fights with other Bar-tailed Godwits.)

I think these medium-sized waders were Red Knots.  Other ideas would be welcome.

Very small waders.  I am happy that these were Red-necked Stints,

The chestnut crown on this bird nails it as one the 5 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers in the flock.

Here is a link to my eBird list.  19 species in total, with 8 waders and 3 species of Tern.