My name is Keith Jones, a member of Team Oystercatcher, monitoring numbers and breeding success rates of Oystercatchers around the SA coast.  Over the past few years, a team of volunteers from Team Oystercatcher, Friends of Shorebirds SE (FoSSE) and the Victorian Wader Studies Group (VWSG) have been catching, banding and flagging Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers on Kangaroo Island. Recently, we've started to receive re-sighting of some of these flagged birds on the SA mainland (eastern Gulf St.Vincent).  Additionally, a flagged Pied Oystercatcher was reported from Reevesby Island, SW Spencer Gulf.  So, there is a possibility that you and your volunteers, who normally monitor Hooded Plovers around the peninsula, will additionally observe flagged Oystercatchers.

 

Could you and your volunteers please report any flagged birds to me (email: docjones@bigpond.net.au), together with the date and location, position of of the flag on the leg, colour of flag and colour of the engraved code (either alpha or numeric).  I'll provide feedback as soon as I can.  Also, I'll send on the information to BirdMark (Deakin Unversity, Victoria), who stores all National banding data on migratory and beach nesting birds.

 

Team Oystercatcher publishes a bi-annual Newsletter on the activities of volunteers monitoring Oystercatchers in this State.  The most recent one was published this last September, and I'm pleased to attach a copy for your information.

 

I look forward to receiving any reports of flagged Oystercatchers on Eyre Peninsula.

Best Regards

Dr. Keith Jones

R & D Chair, SA Shorebird Foundation (www.sashorebirds.org)

mobile: 0439295990

email: docjones@bigpond.net.au