March - April 2007

During the Months of March and April 2007 I have recorded these birds in a 3 hectare area around our house on Whiskers Creek Road (or, for those in brackets, other parts of the Shire).  This totals to a very impressive 70 species!

Water birds:  White-faced heron, Straw-necked ibis, (Australasian grebe, Little pied cormorant, Australian wood duck, Pacific black duck, Grey teal, Australian white ibis)

Birds of prey: Wedge-tailed eagle, Little eagle (Nankeen kestrel)

Parrots and relatives: Yellow-tailed black-cockatoo, Sulphur-crested cockatoo, Gang-gang cockatoo, Galah, Crimson rosella, Eastern rosella.

Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Laughing kookaburra, Sacred kingfisher, White-throated needletail (Common bronzewing, Crested pigeon)

Honeyeaters: Eastern spinebill, Yellow-faced honeyeater, Fuscous honeyeater, White-eared honeyeater, Red wattlebird, Noisy friarbird, White-naped honeyeater, Brown-headed honeyeater, (Noisy Miner)

Flycatchers and similar species: Welcome swallow, Tree martin, Grey fantail, Willie wagtail, Scarlet robin, Rufous whistler, Golden whistler, Magpie-lark, Black-faced cuckoo-shrike, Dusky woodswallow, (Leaden flycatcher, flame robin)

Other, smaller, birds: White-throated gerygone, Weebill, Striated thornbill, Brown thornbill, Buff-rumped thornbill, Yellow-rumped thornbill, White-browed scrubwren, Superb fairy-wren, White-throated treecreeper, Silvereye, Red-browed finch, Spotted pardalote, Striated pardalote, Common blackbird, (Richard’s pipit, Skylark, European goldfinch, House sparrow, Common starling)

Other, larger, birds: Olive-backed Oriole, White-winged chough, Pied Currawong, Grey currawong, Grey butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Australian Raven, Little Raven

The white-throated needletails (spectacular members of the swift family) are only seen in summer, often travelling just in front of storms.   Some of the other observations are indications of the cooler months coming with Golden whistlers joining their Rufous relatives in March and replacing them in April, and Scarlet robins becoming more common.  Also, Eastern Rosellas and Black-faced cuckoo shrikes gathered into larger flocks.

There was a migration of honeyeaters (especially the yellow faced species) in April from the mountains towards the North.  Some of the other migratory species, such as the dusky woodswallows appear to have remained in the area up to the time of writing.  Perhaps as a result of the rain in February/March later than usual breeding has been noticed for some species: we had a noisy nestfull of red-browed finches until mid-April and I saw some young Australian wood-ducks South of Hoskintown in late April.