A survey of waders in the West Coast region, South Island, New Zealand
- Author
- Crossland AC, Crossland N
- Year
- 2016
- Journal / Source
- Stilt
- Volume
- 69-70
- Pages
- 44-47
- Summary
- Due to long travel distances, a sparse human population and a lack of ornithologists in the region, the West Coast seldom receives full coverage during the Ornithological Society of New Zealand’s national wader counts, and has occasionally been completely omitted (Sagar et al. 1999). Therefore, any systematic data on wader abundance and distribution outside of the traditional national wader count periods (November December and June-July), is scarce and worthy of publication. This paper reports on a survey of waders conducted on the West Coast in February 2006. This is the time of year when local wader populations can be expected to reach maximum numbers as sites support both indigenous waders at peak post-breeding abundance, as well as migratory wader flocks just prior to their departure on northward migration (Crossland 2009, 2010, 2013).