Memorandum to:         The Director of Birds Australia

From:                          Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)

Date:                            2^nd March 2007

Voting Members:         Mike Carter                   Andrew Silcocks

                                    Rohan Clarke                 Glenn Holmes

                                    John Hatch                    Jamie Matthew

                                    Tony Palliser                 Danny Rogers

Cc.                               Ron Johnstone              

Submission No 510: Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus Lake Eda, Near Broome WA, 1^st October 2006. Submitted by: Adrian Boyle

Verdict: Accepted

This submission relates to the sighting of a Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus on the 1st of October 2006 at Lake Eda on Roebuck Plains Station near Broome WA. The bird remained for several days and was last recorded on the 6th of October 2006.

The description and supporting photographs conclude the identity beyond all doubt.  Members were quick to vote unanimously in favour of acceptance commenting that the bird appeared to be an adult in basic (winter) plumage. Although, as mentioned within the submission, the presence of a few dark patches on the chest suggest that it may have been in the final stages of moult from alternate (summer) plumage.

This is the 4^th record of this species to be accepted by BARC. The last confirmed record of this species was also from Broome in June 1993 (BARC Case No. 164).

Selected Bibliography:

• Beaman, M. & Madge S. (1998), The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic, Princeton, New Jersey.
• Carter, M & Sudbury, A (1993) Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus in Australia Australian Bird Watcher 15, 149-159.
• Cramp, S. (Ed.) 1985. The birds of the Western Palearctic. Volume 3. Waders
  to Gulls. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

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

• Hayman, P., Marchant, J. & Prater, T. (1986), Shorebirds; an Identification Guide to the Waders of the World, Croom Helm, Sydney.
• McBride, A (1987), ‘A possible Spotted Redshank in Queensland ‘, Australian Birds, 21, 18.
• McKean J.L. & Dampney, A.R. (1984), ‘First sighting of the Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus in Australia’, Northern Territory Naturalist, 7, 8-9.
• Patterson, R.M. (1991) ‘Submission # 66’, RAOU Records Appraisal Committee, Opinions and Case Summaries 1988-1991, RAOU Report # 80, 15-16.

Tony Palliser

Chairman, Birds Australia Rarities Committee