First record of Grey-tailed Tattler in mainland Sumatra (Stilt 67 (2015): 31-32)

FIRST RECORD OF GREY-TAILED TATTLER TRINGA (HETEROSCELUS) BREVIPES IN MAINLAND SUMATRA, INDONESIA

RIKI RAHMANSYAH1 & MUHAMMAD IQBAL2

1Bencoolen Bird Watching, Jl. Sepakat 6 Kampung Melayu, Bengkulu, Indonesia. Email:
rahmansyah.riki@gmail.com

2Daemeter Consulting, Jalan Tangkuban Perahu No. 6 Bogor, West Java 16151, Indonesia. Email:
kpbsos26@yahoo.com

The Grey-tailed Tattler was first recorded in Sumatra during 1999–2000 when a single bird was observed on two occasions on Siberut Island, West Sumatra (Grantham  &  Kemp  2000,  Kemp  2000).  There  have been no further records of the species until recently, with a record from Belitung Island of East Sumatra on21 February 2014 (Iqbal et al. 2014). All previous records of Grey-tailed Tattler from the Sumatran region were from offshore islands (Grantham & Kemp 2000, Kemp 2000, Iqbal et al. 2014); to date there have been none for the Sumatra mainland. 

On 9 October 2014, RR observed one Grey-tailed Tattler on a mud-sandy beach at Jenggalu river (3°50'16.23"S, 102°17'35.20"E). Jenggalu River is part of Pantai Panjang beach which is administratively in Gading Cempaka, Bengkulu city, Bengkulu province (Figure 1). The bird was identified as a Grey-tailed Tattler by plain grey upperparts, a light grey wash on the upper  breast,  the  white  supercilium,  a  rather  stout straight bill and shortish yellow legs (Figure 2). These characters fit well with the non-breeding description of Grey-tailed Tattler in various field guides (Hayman et al. 1986, MacKinnon et al. 1993, Sonobe & Usui 1993, Gills & Wiersma 1996, Chandler 2009, Robson 2011). This brings the total number of records of Grey-tailed Tattler  on  mainland  Sumatra  to  two,  this  one  from Pantai Panjang beach (Bengkulu Province) and the other from the same location on 6 November 2014. In view of the numbers of Grey-tailed Tattlers that use the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, it is really quite strange that the species should be so scarce on Sumatra. However, it is generally uncommon between Japan and Australia, which suggests that most birds undertake nonstop flights across this region, although some stop in the Philippines (Bamford et al. 2008). Similarly, Higgins and Davies (1996)  point  out  that  the  species  is  a  rare  passage migrant in much of south-east Asia during southward migration. During northward migration, the species is a common in northern Australia and it has been estimated that  some  birds  are  capable  of  flying  nonstop  from north-west  Australia  to  the  Philippines  or southern China (Bamford et al. 2008).

Figure 1. Map of Sumatra showing the location where Grey-tailed Tattler observed in Bengkulu during the study (black square). Previous (offshore) records are indicated with a black triangle and black circle.

Figure 2. Grey-tailed Tattler on 9 October 2014 at Pantai Panjang beach, Bengkulu (©Riki Rahmansyah).

REFERENCES

Bamford, M., Watkins, D., Bancroft, W., Tischler, G. & J. Wahl.  2008.  Migratory  shorebirds  of  the  East  Asian- Australasian      flyway:      Population      estimates       and internationally  important  sites.  Wetlands  International- Oceania. Canberra, Australia.

Chandler, R. 2009. Shorebirds of the Northern Hemisphere. Christopher Helm, London.

Gills, J. Van. & P. Wiersma. 1996. Scolopacidae (Snipes, Sandpipers and Phalaropes). Pp. 489–533. In: J. del Hoyo., A. Elliot & J. Sargatal (eds). Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auk. Lynx Editions, Barcelona.

Grantham, M. & N. Kemp. 2000. Grey-tailed Tattler, a new species for Sumatra. Kukila 11: 127.

Hayman, P., Marchant, J & T. Prater. 1986. Shorebirds - an identification guide to the waders of the world. Houghton Mifflin Company, USA.

Higgins, P.J. & S.J.J.F. Davies. (eds). 1996. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3: Snipe to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Iqbal, M., Irawan, D. & F. Takari. 2014. First record of Grey-tailed Tattler Heteroscelus (Tringa) brevipes in E Sumatra, Indonesia. Wader Study Group Bulletin 121(1):49-50.

Kemp, N. 2000. The birds of Siberut, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra. Kukila 11: 73-96. MacKinnon, J. & K. Phillipps. 1993. A field guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bengkulu. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Robson, C. 2011. A field guide to the birds of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers, UK.

Sonobe,  K.  &  S.  Usui  (eds).  1993.  A  field  guide  to  the waterbirds of Asia. Wild Bird Society of Japan, Tokyo.

Publish : Stilt 67 (2015): 31-32