June 2009

In June, 64 species of birds have been recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette, including the species reported by an observer in Hoskinstown, and other observers in the Molonglo Valley, Widgiewa, and Plains Roads.  

1  Waterbirds:  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; Little Pied Cormorant; White-faced HeronMasked Lapwing

2 Birds of Prey:  Wedge-tailed Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon.

3 Parrots and Relatives:  Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo; Gang-gang Cockatoo; Galah;

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo; Australian King-parrot; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella.

4  Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Laughing Kookaburra.

 5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; White‑plumed Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; New Holland Honeyeater; Brown‑headed Honeyeater.

 6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler; Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Rufous Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Flame Robin; Hooded Robin; Welcome Swallow;

7 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Weebill; Striated Thornbill; Yellow Thornbill; Yellow-rumped Thornbill; Buff-rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Varied Sitella; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Silvereye; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Double-barred Finch; Red-browed Finch; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

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

Bird of the Month

From the Greening Australia book “Bringing Birds Back”.   Comments in brackets are by this author.  

Striated Thornbill:   Acanthiza lineata

Appearance:.Small grey-brown bird, greenish back, pale face, breast and underparts with fine black streaks.  (Easily confused with related Brown Thornbill.  Distinguish most easily by voice.)

Voice: High pitched, insect-like ‘tzit, tzit. (Brown thornbill is more ‘mellow, bubbly.) .

Habits: Small groups, feeds in tops of trees searching amongst leaves and bark or hovering around the foliage. Often with other small birds such as the Yelow Thornbill.  (Brown Thornbill tends to be in smaller groups and usually lower in the vegetation.)

Food: Insects or other invertebrates.

Nest: Neat rounded with side-entrance, of grass and bark bound with spider web; hung from outer small branches among the leaves, from 1 – 20 metres above the ground..

Occurrence in revegetation: Found in 27% of sites from very small narrow windbreaks to large sites, from 5 years of age onwards, but more common in older sites as the trees gain height..

(Garden Bird Survey: Undertaken by COG in the gardens of members of that Group records this species as not common.  It is recorded in about  30% of sites, possibly reflecting the difficulty of identifying a small brown bird high in trees. It is recorded in  nearly all weeks.  )