Three populations of non-breeding Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) in the Swain Reefs, Southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Paul O’Neill A D , Clive Minton B , Kiyoaki Ozaki C and Rebecca White A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, PO Box 3130, Rockhampton Shopping Fair, Qld 4701, Australia.
B 165 Dalgetty Road, Beaumaris, Vic. 3193, Australia.
C Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, 115 Konoyama, Abiko 270-1145, Japan.
D Corresponding author. Email: paul.oneill@epa.qld.gov.au
Emu 105(1) 57-66 https://doi.org/10.1071/MU03044
Submitted: 2 September 2003 Accepted: 11 February 2005 Published: 31 March 2005
Abstract
The Swain Reefs is an area of 2000 km2 of reefs and small coral cays at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Up to 5000 non-breeding Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) have been observed in the area during July, and 25 000 in January or February. We used a small cannon net to capture birds that we then banded and leg-flagged; we also collected biometric and moult data from appropriate samples. We captured 368 Roseate Terns in July of 1999, 2000 and 2001, and 3044 in January of 2002 and 2003. We determined that at least some Roseate Terns of the local Queensland breeding population (S. d. gracilis) from colonies on the Capricornia Cays occur in the Swain Reefs during July. Among the January captures were 44 birds carrying Japanese leg-bands and three carrying Taiwanese leg-bands. This is the first evidence that Asian-breeding Roseate Terns over-winter in the southern hemisphere. Subsequent sightings of flagged birds have occurred in the Japanese breeding colonies (with one recapture) and in breeding colonies in the southern Great Barrier Reef. Using plumage and moult characteristics we determined that 60% (15 000 birds) of the Roseate Terns present in Swain Reefs in January belong to the Asian population (S. d. bangsi), 1.5% (375 birds) to the local population (S. d. gracilis), and the remaining 38% (9500 birds) were of unknown breeding origin.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority through the day-to-day management program for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. We are grateful to Charles Allen, Ken Bichel, Lee Case, Andrew Congram, Ben Cook, Dave Devney, Paul Finn, Doris Graham, Chris Hassell, Harold Heatwole, Jeff Herbert, Steve Hoseck, Bruce Knuckey, Anna Lashko, Ian Nisbet and Myriam Preker for their assistance in the field. We thank the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme for permission to cannon-net, band and flag the birds, for the supply of bands and the storage of data, and we thank the three referees for their helpful suggestions. We thank Toru Mano who initiated the Roseate Tern banding research in Okinawa, and Shigemoto Komeda and Takao Baba who assisted with that banding work. Banding in Okinawa was funded by the Ministry of Environment, Japan. Comments by Danny Rogers, Ashley Bunce and Rod Elder greatly improved the text. We gratefully acknowledge support from the Australian Geographic Society to allow a visit to breeding sites in Okinawa in 2002, and support from an anonymous donor to present this information at the 2003 Meeting of the Waterbird Society in Brazil.
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