Twitch! Syd The SIPO

In early January 2017, as I was sorting the last minute details for our final move to Australia, a New Zealand visitor arrived on the coast of northern New South Wales. He had already visited Victoria, although no one there had noticed he was a Kiwi. The friendly Victorian bird-banders had given him a silver bracelet and a red flag with 1N on it. Many of my friends dashed up (or over, or down) to NSW to see him, but I wasn’t back yet.

He had been banded in August of 2016. Since it was again winter, the very clever Simon Starr (Firetail Birdwatching Tours) went to the place where this visitor had been flagged hoping that he would come back again. And like a Grey Nomad returning to Queensland, he did. Simon found Syd hanging out with the numerous Australian Pied Oystercatchers near a place called Stockyard Point by Jam Jerrup, VIC.

I was birding with some of my dear Aussie Tribe in the beautiful Brisbane Ranges Sunday arvo when I got a message from Simon regarding his discovery (thank you my friend). He had posted the details of his success on Facebook and called to give me the full story. I considered bolting for the site immediately, but it was down on the other side of Melbourne on Westernpoint Bay, so I decided against it. It would be a bit over two hours drive from Lara at the best of times. So I went Monday morning and that was not the best of times.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not do big cities (unless I have to). I loathe big cities. Traffic is one of the biggest reasons that I do. Very few things are worth driving through the Big Smoke in the morning, but a South Island Pied Oystercatcher is one of them. A drive that, at normal times, would have taken about two hours took over three hours. I collected my good friend, Oakley Germech (part of the tribe) at a train station near the freeway. Once I had battled my way out of the congestion there, we were gratefully heading away from the traffic flow and toward the twitch.

I had expected to be at Jam Jerrup by 9am. It was close to ten when we finally arrived. We bumped into Dave Stabb, who I had met in January 2011 at the WTP (I have met the best people at the pooh farm! This is not a joke, I really have). I had not seen him since then, but we both remembered each other. He remembered me as Bruce from Virginia (as I was at the time). It was good to see him. We have now exchanged information and will keep in touch.

After checking out a small group of Pied Oystercatchers north of the parking area, we parked and gathered our things to begin searching. Oakley was just ahead of me, starting down on the beach, as a flock of twenty-some oystercatchers flew past toward the area where we had just been looking. I asked Oakley, only partially joking, “Was it in that group?” And he answered seriously, “I think it might have been!”

We headed north up the beach toward where the flock had landed. I said that I thought I had it, but I wasn’t sure. Then in a few moments Dave had his scope on the leg flag of an Oystercatcher. We all read it, “1N!” We had found the SIPO! And we had I.D.ed it first by its flag! Soon Scott Baker, Dan Ashdown, Deb Oliver, David Adam, Mark Hill and others joined us and everyone was taking photos, and rejoicing in the successful twitch. These were lovely moments. I am exceedingly grateful.

Facebook exploded with photos and joyful postings as more people twitched the bird. Kevin Bartram, who saw it later the same day, commented on my post, “You didn’t scare it away?” Later when he had posted about having seen it, I asked him the same question. We joked a bit and he ended up calling the bird, “Syd the SIPO.” I liked it and began to spread it around. I hope it sticks. Here are some photos from the day (the photos of the people and beach are Oakley's).
     

                           

                                 

     

Lifer Selfie with Oakley... Syd the SIPO Successful Twitch!

The following partial song parody is only amusing if you are familiar with Jim Croce’s song, "Don't Mess Around With Jim" . So here you go, sung to the tune of the original…

Don't Mess Around With Syd

Venus Bay got its, “Chuckles”
Darwin’s got its gull.
Stockyard Point got a Pied Oystercatcher
Whose legs are a little small
His bill is long and his wings are strong
But I reckon that he got lost
And when the twitchers all get together at night,
They call Syd the SIPO boss…

A little history of the bird: It was banded on 6 August 2016 there at Stockyard Point, VIC. It was misidentified as an Australian Pied Oystercatcher. It was seen again in that area on 22 August and still misidentified as an APO. Next it showed up at Broadwater Beach in NSW last January where birders finally correctly identified 1N as a South Island Pied Oystercatcher. It was twitched by many (but not by me until this past Monday). It was first seen again in Victoria by Simon on 18 June 2017 and received its 'official' name from Kevin Bartram on 20 June becoming, Syd the SIPO. 

By the way, I had fish and chips and gravy, with a yo-yo cookie dessert as my Lifer Pie treats. I am so grateful.

Peace. Love. Birds.