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.