In October 2009,
91 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 Widgiewa Road. This is the
highest monthly total since I started recording!
The major
news was the sighting of a flock of Masked and White-browed Woodswallows
in Whiskers Creek Road. These were the
first report of what has turned out to be a widespread irruption of this
species in the Southern Tablelands. The
Common Myna sighting was – fortunately-
a once-off, but I would really like to hear if anyone else spots one
of these rats with wings!
Migrants
are shown in italics below and species
for which breeding has been observed are underlined.
1 Waterbirds: Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal;
Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑necked Heron;
White-faced Heron; Australian White Ibis; Straw-necked Ibis; Royal Spoonbill;
Purple Swamphen; Eurasian Coot; Masked Lapwing.
2 Birds of Prey: Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk;
Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon; Australian
Hobby;.
3 Parrots and
Relatives: Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo; Galah; Little
Corella; Sulphur-crested Cockatoo; Australian King-parrot; Crimson Rosella;
Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped parrot.
4 Kingfishers
and other non-songbirds: Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested
Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Horsfield's
Bronze-Cuckoo; Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan-tailed Cuckoo;
Southern boobook; Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred
Kingfisher; Rainbow Bee-eater;
5 Honeyeaters: Eastern
Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared
Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; Brown‑headed Honeyeater; Noisy Friarbird
6 Flycatchers
and similar species: Golden Whistler; Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Flame Robin; Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome
Swallow; Tree Martin
7 Other, smaller
birds: White-throated Treecreeper; Superb Fairy-wren;
White-browed Scrubwren; Speckled warbler; Weebill; Western Gerygone; White-throated Gerygone; Striated Thornbill; Yellow‑rumped
Thornbill; Buff-rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Spotted Pardalote; Striated
Pardalote; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike;
Olive-backed Oriole; Masked Woodswallow, White-browed Woodswallow; Dusky
Woodswallow; Silvereye; Common Blackbird; Common Myna; Common Starling; Red‑browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House
Sparrow; Richards Pipit; 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.
Red-browed Finch (previously Red-browed Firetail): Neochima temporalis
Appearance:.Small
grey-olive finch, bright red bill, eyebrow and rump.
Voice: Very
high-piched squeak, almost inaudible.
Habits: Pairs
to flocks (up to 20 not uncommon) feeds on the ground but darts to nearby cover
when disturbed. Often associates with
waterways especially where grass is long (this also applies to vegie gardens!).
Food: Seeds,
insects.
Nest: Large
bottle-shaped, made of grass, 1-2 metres above the ground in dense often
prickly shrub.
Occurrence in revegetation: Found in 22%
of sites, both small and narrow, and large, sites fro 5 years of age onwards.
(Garden Bird Survey: Undertaken by COG in the gardens of members of that Group records
this species as less common, recorded in less than 30% of sites but varying quite a lot between
years.. It is recorded in nearly all
weeks of the year.)
