September 2015 – PIPwatch

Mainland and island sightings – Sept 2015

New sightings have been trickling in throughout September as arriving PIPs spread southwards.

First-of-season birds were sighted early in September at Coquette Point (thanks to Yvonne and Ruth, who had already heard the first coos in August), by mid-month in Townsville (thanks to Jenny, Malcolm, Cecily, Elizabeth) and towards the end of the month near Bowen and at Slade Point (thanks to Terry and friends).
The first PIP breeding activity of the new season was observed in Cairns during the second week of September, with one PIP seen flying with nesting material (thanks Brian). Later in month some of the PIPs at Low Isles built nests and began incubation (thanks to Wayne). By the end of the month Cairns had several occupied nests and some unsuccesssful starts (again thanks to Brian).

Final update for September: a pair of PIPs looks to be interested in the same tree that hosted a nest previously (see photo below, thanks to Jenny) although last season was unsuccessful there.

Film launch : The Coming of the White Birds

A wonderful new film was recently launched! “The Coming of the White Birds” celebrates an amazing half-century of conservation effort on behalf of PIPs at the Brook Islands near Hinchinbrook.

Read about the film and the launch event here.

There will be a public screening of the film at the Birdlife Mission Beach PIP count in November – see here for details and please join in if you can.

Above: Late arriving PIPs fly in towards North Brook Island while counters on the boat keep a running tally of PIP numbers. Photo courtesy of D. Dickson, a longstanding member of the dedicated count team.

Low Isles and Green Island PIPs begin the new season – Sept 2015

Good PIP numbers = good news from both Low Isles and Green Island :)

The first count of the new season at Low Isles reported a total of just over 9,900 incoming PIPs. A big round of thanks to the Low Isles Caretakers, Jenni and Wayne, and to their team of count volunteers.

At Green Island, the totals for the first count of the new season (separate counts by two independent observers) were 4437 / 4434 PIPs flying in to the island. Big thank-you to long term count champions Gerry and Carolyn!