The Happy Sandpiper
We arrived in Darwin yesterday and after getting our van (no upgrade this time around) and doing some shopping (beer and gin) we headed out to East Point, a park on the eastern shore. We walked out to a rocky area where we found our first Common Sandpiper, a large flock of mixed Terns (Gull-billed, Lesser and Greater Crested), and fifty or so Greater and Lesser Sand-Plovers.
Okay get ready cause here I go with one of my many pet peeves concerning bird names. First of all, I've been in Australia for a month now and spent almost the entire time in the winter range of the "Common"Sandpiper and this is the first one that I have seen. And for God sakes, I've been looking for them! If something is "common" you shouldn't have to look for it for days and days and not find it. It's true that the Common Sandpiper is not a flashy bird, but come on bird naming people, this is important work. Let's put a little effort into it. After all, once you decide on a name it's likely that people will be using that name for perhaps centuries. To be fair the name was pinned almost two hundred years ago, back when birds were merely thought of as, well,,,, birds.
I watched the Common Sandpiper on the edge of the rocky outcropping and noticed how it patrolled the the tide pools and pebbled shoreline searching for small mollusks, crustaceans, and insects. As it discovered one it would thrust its head into the pebbles and presumably catch and eat its victim. All the while it acted much like our Spotted Sandpiper. It walked along continually pumping its tail and bobbing its head. In Papua New-Guinea the native people call it Matakakoni which means "bird that walks a little and then copulates". I don't know about you, but to me that's anything but common, so why not call it Matakakoni Sandpiper or if that's too complicated, or risqué, just call it the Happy Sandpiper.
Rosanna Rosanna Danna meets Emily Latella
I wish Rosanna Rosanna Danna was still around. I can just hear her saying "Can you believe they have birds that are called Greater and Lesser Sand-Plovers! I mean I was in Australia with my good friend Forest. And we wasseh watchin' some little itty bitty tiny birds that wasseh standing on some rocks. And while we wasseh watching those little itty bitty tiny birds there wasseh these little itty bitty tiny flies that kept a flying into my eye BALL. And then....... I noticed that these little itty bitty tiny flies were also flying into my friend Forest's EYE BALL. And not only his eye ball but they wasseh also flying up his NOSE and for Christ sake, even into his MOUTH. Can you believe it? But my friend Forest, he didn't care, he just kept on a watchin' those little itty bitty tiny birds like they was Las Vegas showgirls or something. I mean, do you know what I mean? And I was like, mate, cause that's what everyone says over there,,,,,,,, where you from........ mate ........and... where you going.......... mate........ and where you been .............. mate, just like we're all one big happy family. I mean really ------- don't they know what the word even means! You know like what they say about birds of prey and stuff, like ----- they MATE for life.... and when one of them dies, they say something like ............ she's so sad because she lost her MATE.....For Gods sake!!! I mean even when I'm driving on the wrong side of the road and I crash into one of them head on they just get out of the car and say ............. look what you have done to my beautiful Toyota Hi-Lux ...mate,, and then ...... how can you be so stupid....... mate? And now I feel like the guys likes me so I say my name is Rosanna Rosanna Danna and they say their name and now I don't feel so bad because this guy must think that I'm something special, which, by the way I am, something special that is, and so in the end everything is hunky dory and we go down to the pub and grab a pint.
But getting back to my story about the Greater and Lesser Sand-Plovers. My friend Forest was pretty much ignoring these little itty bitty bastard flies until one of 'em decided to fly up his nose and then, oh my God, all of a sudden he started sneezing and snorting and coughing and throwing himself all about until a big glob of snot came out of his nose and landed on the rocks right there in front of my feet and I said Oh my God, that's GROSS. Then something caught my attention and I looked down at this big glob of snot and there was that little itty bitty tiny fly stuck there right in the middle of the big wad of snot and this little itty bitty tiny fly was a twisting and a turning around and around like John Travolta himself, he was trying to get himself out of that WAD OF SNOT. But the snot was super sticky and I was a thinking the more he twists and turns the more the snot sticks to his ------ At this point Jane butts in and says "Excuse me Rosanna but what the hell does this have to do with Greater and Lesser Sand-Plovers". And all of a sudden Rosanna Rosanna Danna changes into Emily Latella and meekly says "oh..... nothing I guess,,,,,,, Never-mind".
Himalayan Sand-Plover
I learned a long time ago and have since forgotten the whole greater and lesser thing that everyone learns in math. If the arrow points to the right it means one thing and to the left means the opposite or something like that. I don't think that I have ever really used it since the time I learned it, that is, until now, so I guess it was a good thing I was paying attention that day.
But to point a arrow from a figure on the left to one of the right means that the one on the left is lesser, but it's not, unless there is something on the right to which it is pointing to. For something to be "greater" there has to be something that is "lesser". Now I can hear some of you saying, "oh come on Forest, you're just getting all bent out of shape over nothing and going on and on about it" and to that I say you're right. It's called blogging.
But the Lesser Sand-Plover is not < the Greater Sand-Plover, just smaller and with a slightly shorter bill. In fact expert birders have a hard time telling them a part from each other. So why not call the Lesser Sand-Plover something more representative of the species. For example the Lesser Sand-Plover breeds in the Himalayas, which is definitely interesting. So why not call it the Himalayan Sand-Plover. And because I'm worried that a knowledgeable birder might be reading this blog, and comment "oh it's because there already is a bird called the Himalayan Sand-Plover", I did a quick Goggle search for Himalayan Sand-Plover and guess what came up first and foremost, you guessed it, the Lesser Sand-Plover. We'll work on a name for the Greater Sand-Plover some other time.
Before I leave the subject though, I wish I could say that when they gave out Latin or "scientific names" they were more thoughtful, but that is not always the case. But in the case of the Lesser Sand-Plover, they did and my hat is off to them. The Lesser Sand-Plover's Latin genus name is Charadrius, named for a bird that is mentioned in the fourth century Vulgate. For those of you who are like me and have never heard of the Vulgate, it was a Latin translation of the bible that was the primary source during the sixth century for the Latin Catholic Church and is still commonly used today. The species name is mongolus, which at the time the bird was named referred to an area greater than present day Mongolia. Very interesting.
Off to Lee Point
After struggling with a couple of tough identification issues i.e. Greater and Lesser Sand-Plovers and some terns that we though might be Black-naped but turned out to be immature Gull-billed Terns, we decided to head up to Lee Point before it got too dark. We began to make our way back to the van but along the way got side tracked by a Pacific Reef-Heron (white morph, usually they're blue) that was frantically making its way along the rocks looking in the tide pools and under and behind rocks for prey. It was so cool! He would take off across the rocks using his long neck to bend and position his head with its massive dagger like bill this way and that so that he could have a good look underneath rocky shelves and in between rocks. When he found something, he would thrust his head forward so fast that it was difficult to even tell what he had done or if he had caught something and then without a pause he kept moving across the shelf, almost mechanical, like something out of a Star Wars movie.
After watching the Reef Heron we once again headed for the van with the intention of arriving at our camping location before dark. Along the way I noticed several immature Pacific Reef-Herons flying around a small mangrove. As I got closer to where the van was parked, I heard a bird singing and it sounded like something new. I tried to locate it but it flew into another tree. I tracked it down only to see it take to the wing and land in a different tree. Finally I was on it and I figured out that it was a Singing Honeyeater. Most all honeyeaters sing, but to be fair, some like the Lewin's Honeyeater just rattle. Every good band need a percussion section right?
I took a couple of bad pictures of the bird and then looked around for Brian. I walked back to where I first saw the bird and there was Brian kneeling down taking a photograph of something on the shoreline. I thought okay, he's just taking a picture of something and he'll be right along. One thing you got to know about Brian is that he approaches a task or a project in a very organized and well thought out manner. It doesn't matter if he's painting a masterpiece or a fence, he's going to think it over, plan it out, visualize it, think it over some more, step back and look at it, think it over again and then finally get to it. But when he's finished, it's a work of art or it's a dam good looking fence. I took a couple of photos of him taking a photo and then I noticed that he was taking a video not a photo and that's when I knew that it was going to be a while. But hey, who needs inflexible plans! This is a vacation after all. So I turned around and went in search of more birds. I chased around a little brown Gerygone looking bird but I wasn't able to come up with an identification on it. Another chase turned out to be a Rufous-banded Honeyeater. Then I went back to check on Brian and he was just walking up the beach toward the van.
He told me how he had been looking at these cool rocks and shells. As he was looking at them a funny thing happened. They began to move.
Before we got to the van we ran into a group of honeyeaters. Most were Rufous-banded Honeyeaters, but one turned out to be a Rufous-throated. We got in the van and headed out for Lee Point and by the time we arrived, it was dark. That is where we'll pick up next time.
I'm very happy your cord is restored and allowed us to share our musings on what Common Sandpipers are and should properly be called, not to mention the Charadrius escape - please stay and keep the northern hemisphere folks trusting that Earth may yet tilt on its axis.
ReplyDeleteLove this comment! I only wish that the tilt could be a little more to the left in both hemispheres.
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