By mid-July there are significant changes in the bird world of the Sunshine Coast. Just a few short weeks ago, we were anticipating the breeding season, and suddenly it is almost over as many species lose their breeding finery, revert to winter colours, and cease to sing. Other species are already migrating southwards.
Swainson’s thrush is the abundant and iconic vocalist of the lower elevations of our area from mid-May to mid-July but already their song is petering out and we must wait ten months to hear it again and know that another summer has arrived. I was up in the Tetrahedron last week and at the higher elevations the hermit thrush, a close relative of Swainson’s, was still fluting its beautiful song. As an aficionado of birdsong, I find that the hermit thrush is a finer singer than Swainson’s, but you have to be above about 900 metres elevation on the Sunshine Coast to hear it.
Mid-summer evenings are the best time to catch the flight of common nighthawks as these birds often congregate into loose flocks and fly their haphazard and jagged trajectories over coastlines and communities. Watch for medium-sized birds with a clear white flash in the wing and listen for the booming noise generated by their wings as they dive after aerial insects. Occasionally, large flocks of these birds are observed, but overall their numbers are declining along with many other species in the group known as the aerial insectivores (that includes swallows).
The southward migration of the shorebird family is well underway as peep sandpipers, yellowlegs and dowitchers have already departed from their Arctic breeding grounds and arrived on the Sunshine Coast. Look for them on the mudflats at the head of Porpoise Bay and the Wilson Creek estuary. The first of the shorebirds that inhabit our rocky shorelines have also been reported and the black turnstones will be with us through the winter. The first of the returning gulls have also appeared from their interior and Prairie breeding grounds.
At the Wilson Creek estuary, a California quail has been present for two or three weeks. This bird is a presumed escapee from captivity as the species is not known to inhabit our area. Any information on this would be appreciated.
Contact [email protected] or 604-885-5539 with your sightings or questions.
Good birding!
