Recent Activities

Auckland Landside Integration

OTS has recently expanded its activities at Auckland International Airport to include Landside development projects. We are currently working in partnership with Fulton & Hogan on the P&R Phase 1 Project. The 4,000-space car park is directly beneath the 23L Runway approach and OTS are required to monitor and disperse birds, particularly Kelp Gull, from the site, which are attracted to the site by the earth works and water features needed for such projects.

Shorebird Surveying

OTS has been conducting surveys for three separate projects in the shorebird hot-spot of north-west Western Australia. Of the three projects one required shore-based observations and data collection, the remaining two required aerial surveys from helicopters. Such surveys require early starts and run for most of the day, spanning both low and high tides at a site. These long and tiring days are hard work but can produce some amazing results including over 65,000 shorebirds and terns counted in one day of survey work recently.

Mangrove Robin Range Extension

On a recent expedition by Ornithological Technical Services a discovery was made that fills a gap in the known distribution of Mangrove Robin (Eopsaltria pulverulenta). This newly added area is located between known Mangrove Robin sites, however due to accessibility issues no one has been able to confirm their presence in this area. The map below illustrates where the new site is in relevence to known Mangrove Robin sites.

SILVER GULL BANDING PROJECT

OTS has recently started a colour banding project looking into the movements of Silver Gulls in the Perth Metro Area. To date OTS has banded 28 gulls on Rottnest Island using alphanumeric coloured bands which are readable in the field. This project began in early 2021 and since then has resulted in the resighting of 15 birds, some seen repetitively around Rottnest Island. Recently we have received records from the general public showing how far our banded Silver Gulls will travel away from Rottnest Island. Our longest distance record was from Scarborough Beach recorded, almost 25km away. This is a great record, and potentially the first documentation of Silver Gulls traveling between Rottnest Island and the mainland.

We would like to thank the observers who have already submitted their resighting data and thank in advance any observers who will do so in the future. We would ask any resightings of these birds be reported to billrutheford@ots.org.au. All information valuable even if exact letters and numbers are not recorded.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater Banding project

OTS operates a waterbird and seabird banding project for south-western Australia. In 2021 we conducted two sessions of mist netting to catch Wedge-tailed Shearwaters on Rottnest Island. This is the only banding project in Australia which has caught adult Wedge-tailed Shearwaters as the standard method is to band nestlings whilst they are still in their nests. This project has produced invaluable information on the morphology and moult patterns in Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, as the most recently published data is over 50 years old. This data is the only record of morphology recorded on adult Wedge-tailed shearwaters in Australia for the subspecies Puffinus pacificus chlororhynchus, according to the Handbook for Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds.

Little Black Cormorant Breeding Distribution Extension

Little Black Cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) have been known to breed predominantly in the south west of Western Australia and in the eastern states. However, on a recent job in Kalgoorlie OTS staff were able to document a new location of breeding Little Black Cormorants when birds were seen sitting on nests. The map below illustrates where this new breeding location is in relevance to the current known breeding distribution.