Full list of birds seen in the area

This list is divided into a number of groups I developed to make sense to less experienced birders.  Within the groups it is ordered according to the taxonomic order used in 2011 by the Canberra Ornithologists Group to bring birds that are closely related together. Birds that are migrants to Carwoola are highlighted in blue (for species which migrate out of the area in Summer) or orange (for species which migrate out for Winter) below.

The hyperlinks (ie underlined stuff) are to photographs of the 89 species elsewhere in this blog.In due course I hope to link every species name to one or more images thereof. 

The list will be updated as new species are added to the sightings in the area.

1  Waterbirds (pt 1):  (pt 2); (Pt 3); (Pt 4): Plumed Whistling-duck; Freckled Duck; Musk Duck; Black Swan;  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Pink-eared Duck; Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Chestnut Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Blue-billed Duck; Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe; Darter; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; Great Cormorant; Australian Pelican;  White‑necked Heron;  Intermediate Egret; Cattle Egret; Eastern Great Egret: White‑faced Heron; Nankeen Night Heron; Glossy Ibis; Australian White Ibis; Straw-necked Ibis; Royal Spoonbill; Yellow-billed Spoonbill; Purple Swamphen; Australian Spotted Crake; Spotless Crake;  Baillons Crake; Dusky Moorhen;  Eurasian  Coot; Black-winged Stilt; Red-necked Avocet; Black‑fronted Dotterel; Red-kneed Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing; Australian Painted Snipe; Latham’s Snipe; Sharp-tailed Sandpiper; Whiskered tern,, Silver Gull

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; White-bellied Sea-eagle; Whistling Kite, Black Kite, Brown Goshawk; Collared Sparrowhawk; Grey Goshawk; Spotted Harrier; Swamp Harrier; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon; Australian Hobby; Black Falcon, Peregrine Falcon.

3 Parrots and Relatives:  Scaly-breasted Lorikeet; Glossy Black-Cockatoo; Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; Galah;  Little Corella; Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; Australian King‑parrot; Superb Parrot; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Hybrid Crimson-Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped Parrot

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds (Pt 1) (Pt 2) (Pt 3): Emu; Stubble Quail; Brown quail; Rock Dove; Spotted Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Wonga Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; White-throated Nightjar; Australian Owlet-nightjar; White-throated Needletail; Fork‑tailed Swift; Painted Button-quail; Common Koel; Channel-billed Cuckoo; Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Black‑eared Cuckoo; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo; Southern Boobook; Barking Owl; Eastern Barn Owl; Powerful Owl; Azure Kingfisher; Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher; Rainbow Bee‑eater; Dollarbird; Superb lyrebird

5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; Yellow-tufted Honeyeater; Fuscous Honeyeater; White‑plumed Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; New Holland Honeyeater; Crescent Honeyeater; White-fronted Chat; Scarlet Honeyeater , Brown‑headed Honeyeater; White-naped Honeyeater; Noisy Friarbird; Painted Honeyeater

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler;Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Spangled Drongo; Rufous Fantail; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Satin Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Jacky Winter; Scarlet Robin; Red‑capped Robin, Flame Robin; Rose Robin, Hooded Robin; Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow; Fairy Martin; Tree Martin

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species (Pt 1) (Pt 2):  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Chestnut-rumped heathwren; Speckled warbler; Weebill; Western Gerygone; White-throated Gerygone; Striated Thornbill; Yellow Thornbill; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill; Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Southern Whiteface; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Silvereye; Zebra Finch; Double‑barred Finch; Red‑browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Brown Treecreeper; Spotted  Quail-thrush; Varied Sitella; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; White‑-winged Triller; Olive‑backed Oriole; Masked Woodswallow; White‑browed Woodswallow; Dusky Woodswallow; Horsefields Bushlark, Skylark; Golden-headed Cisticola; Australian Reed-warbler; Rufous Songlark; Brown Songlark; Common Blackbird; Common Myna; Common Starling; Mistletoebird; Australasian  Pipit;

9  Other, larger birds: Satin Bowerbird; Grey Butcherbird; Australian Magpie; Pied Currawong; Grey Currawong; Australian Raven; Little Raven; White-winged Chough

Background to this blog

Note that although this post shows a publication date of 2 January 2005 that is merely a strategy to position it as the oldest post.  It was actually written in November 2011!

Purposes of this Blog
This blog follows from the column which I have written since February 2007 for the Stoney Creek Gazette.

The primary aim of that column was to inform readers of the Gazette (mainly residents of Carwoola as defined below) about what birds were in the area both currently and in the longer term.  That is also the primary aim of this blog.

An important secondary purpose is to assist that audience to identify the birds which they see around their properties and/or elsewhere in Carwoola.

A third purpose is to exchange information and observations.  To that extent comments using the usual Blogger facilities will be welcomed and where I receive useful information through email etc I will include it in an appropriate - as decided by me - way.  However this is not intended to be a 'chatline' as I have not got the time to deal with that!

Full list of birds

A copy of the full list of birds recorded in the area is on this post.

Where is Carwoola?

 My usual description is "halfway to Captains Flat" which is only helpful if you know where Captains Flat is to be found.  Hopefully this mudmap will be better (click on it to get a bigger image) !

What habitats are found in the area?

There are broadly three forms of habitat in the area:

• The area along the Captains Flat Rd to Briars-Sharrow Rd and various subdivisions off that road are mainly rural-residential with a mixture of hobby farms and tree-change bush blocks.  Primrose Valley is also of this nature.  Mainly grassland with various sorts of plantings according to the interests of the landholders.
• The country to the East of the Captains Flat Rd is more devoted to commercial pastoral activities and is dominated by the frost plain along the Molonglo River; and 
• A number of Nature Reserves, and similar  forms of "protected" land are shown in green on the map.  These are mainly Box-grassy woodland with various other eucalypt species dominating some of the areas.

The Molonglo River essentially parallels Captains Flat Road.

How has the data been collected?

It has been collected by the observations of myself and some other residents of the area being collated by me for input to a monthly page I wrote in the Stoney Creek Gazette.  Two other contributors have made regular detailed monthly reports while a quite large number of residents of the area have provided ad-hoc comments and/or images of particularly interesting observations.

As the future of the hard-copy Gazette is subject to debate I decided to create this blog so that those interested can maintain access to the information.