Masked lapwings, incognito, on nest

Thank goodness August is over! It started off so well with extra warm weather and all birds happily into nesting. Unfortunately, for the first time I can remember, there were two king tides in the one month, both, accompanied by huge swells, with the last one also seeing gale force winds.

Both times the Spit ended up being pushed closer to Pacific Crescent and it was left almost totally underwater. The last of the grasslands at the point were washed away, as was the nest the oystercatchers spent so much time developing. On the plus side, the eggs would have been washed away had they put a nest down. The downside, they don’t seem to have found another site they seem happy with.

Half the beach is now so flat it will be washed over with minimal swell. The other half has a lot of grass and pigs face areas, creating large mounds, meaning there is no long line of site available for nesting oystercatchers.

None of this has bothered the masked lapwings. They must be feeling happy they don’t have to suffer the campgrounds this year so may have a little peace for a change. They have a nest hidden in amongst the pigs face next to where the oystercatchers nested last year. The nesting bird stays really low so you can’t easily see it. Too close (the distance isn’t particularly close) and it is quick to leave the nest and do broken wing display to attract you away. It is also swooping. Apart from the wash over down that end of the beach, the lapwings will have a protective perimeter that they won’t let the oystercatchers approach so nesting at that end looks out for them.

There is a raven creating food banks over the area left for oystercatchers to nest. If the oystercatchers go back to seriously nesting they will be spending a good deal of the day chasing the raven before putting eggs down. It will be a good thing, as the food banks are attracting a fox. When I walk the beach of a morning I can see raven and fox prints intermingled and digging around the food banks. One of the fly-by passes I saw the raven do it was carrying a very bloated and stiff, rat, hopefully not as a result of rat poison that people are still, unbelievably, using given the sensitive nature of the food chain in our environment. Thankfully, that was not stowed on the beach but instead in the sand bank along Constables Point.

So still keeping an eye on the oystercatchers for positive signs that they have chosen a new nest site. Hopefully, they get a chance to choose, rather than just doing a last minute desperation, anywhere, attempt.