Movements of Banded Pied Oystercatchers

Updates as at 5/6/20: 

• Flag 57 seen on Big Beach where Howe track hits the beach on 4/6/20.  8 days after last sighting  on Quarry Beach (11kms away).  I haven't updated the graphics (yet).
• Looking at my records I have found a record (and photo) of JJ on Quarry Beach in September 2018..  Details to come.

From time to time I get photos of Australian Pied Oystercatchers in which I can read the codes on their leg flags,  (I can never manage to read the numbers on the metal bands, and have read an authoritative statement that it is im possible unless you have the bird in hand.)  In the past I have reported this to the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) but they seem to have abandoned taking records of birds other than in banding projects.  (I am following up for more details on this,)  However for shore birds the vacuum has been filled by the Australian Wader Study Group (AWSG) who not only took my recent sightings but sent back detailed and very interesting reports for the 4 birds I have seen in the past 6 weeks.

The aim of this post is to attempt to summarise those reports for the interest and edification of birders who visit East Gippsland.  

Two of the birds were aged at 1 when first captured, another as 2 years and the fourth as 4+.  Arithmetic reveals that when last sighted they were 7, 12, 16 and (at least) 14 years of age.  HANZAB is silent on the maximum age the species can attain.

All the birds have been banded at Barry Beach, Corner Inlet.  For reasons not known to me Barry Beach doesn't register with Google Earth but this image shows Corner Inlet in relation to Mallacoota.

Note that it is 328 km straight line between the locations: I suspect the Oystercatchers will call in at other spots as they travel around.

In total the reports for the 4 birds mention 14 locations at which the Oystercatchers have been trapped or observed.  7 of those are in the Mallacoota area: Mallacoota per se; Pebbly Beach; Quarry Beach; Betka Beach; Davis Beach; Devlins Inlet; and Top Lake.  The other 7 locations are shown below:

Note that there are three sites (Barry Beach, Roussac's Farm and "Off Mann's Beach") in the general area of Corner Inlet. 

In terms of where the birds have been sighted the following table image summarises the number of times each of the 4 birds has been reported at each site.  

I have found it very difficult to portray the movements of the birds by date and geocoordinates.  This probably reflects my lack of software and - more importantly - graphics skills!  Hopefully the following images get the ideas across. 

Note that the axes vary between the latitude and longitude charts: that gets the latitudes going up and down and the longitudes going left to right.   

A few general comments seem relevant:

• These birds seem to have settled down in Mallacoota in recent years although 57 did move from Mallacoota to Stockyard Point before returning and 85 returned briefly from Mallacoota to Corner Inlet.
• There are some large gaps (up to 3 years at times) between sightings.  As it only took 84 days for 85 to move from Corner Inlet to Merimbula there could be a lot of movements not detected by these records.
• I would be surprised if the birds have revisited Corner Inlet and not been recorded but they may have been missed at (eg) Wingan Inlet, Cape Conran or Eden which are all between Corner Inlet and Merimbula.

Following from this last point is the clear message that all observations in which a flag is seen clearly enough to read it should be reported.    It would also be interesting to hear of any radio tracking off this species which could plug some gaps.