November 2009

In November 2009 an astonishing 106 species of birds have been recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette, the highest monthly total since I started recording.  Thanks to several observers in: Hoskinstown; the Molonglo Valley, Widgiewa Road and Wanna Wanna Road.  This includes 5 new species for the project: Great Cormorant; Australian Reed-Warbler; Brown Songlark; Grey Goshawk and most excitingly Superb Parrot (this represents a extension to the known range of this species).   More Common Mynas and a Spotted Dove have been seen  in Hoskinstown: I would really like to hear if anyone else spots either of these rats with wings!

Migrants are shown in italics below and species for which breeding has been observed (a very good list this month) are underlined.

1  Waterbirds:  Black Swan;  Australian Wood Duck; Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Darter; Little Pied Cormorant; Great Cormorant; White‑necked Heron; White-faced Heron; Nankeen Night Heron; Australian White Ibis; Straw-necked Ibis; Eurasian Coot; Black-winged Stilt; Black-fronted Dotterel; Masked Lapwing

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Grey Goshawk; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Australian Hobby; Peregrine falcon.

3 Parrots and Relatives:  Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo; Gang-gang  Cockatoo; Galah; Sulphur^‑crested Cockatoo; Australian King-parrot; Superb Parrot; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Red‑rumped parrot

4  Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Rock Dove; Spotted Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo; Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo; Southern boobook; Laughing Kookaburra;Sacred Kingfisher; Rainbow Bee-eater;

5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; New Holland Honeyeater; Brown‑headed Honeyeater; Noisy Friarbird

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Flame Robin; Welcome Swallow; Fairy Martin; Tree Martin

7 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Weebill; Western Gerygone; White-throated Gerygone; Striated Thornbill; Yellow-rumped Thornbill; Buff-rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Southern Whiteface; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Spotted  Quail-thrush; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; White-winged Triller; Olive-backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Australian Reed-Warbler; Rufous Songlark; Brown Songlark; Silvereye; Common Blackbird; Common Myna; Common Starling; Mistletoebird; Double-barred Finch; Red‑browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow; Richards Pipit; European Goldfinch

8  Other, larger birds: Satin Bowerbird; 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.  

Pied Currawong: Strepera graculina

(In the Gazette area there is also Grey Currawong: much greyer in colour, no white on the tail and a more ‘chiming’ call.)

Appearance:.Large mostly black bird with robust black bill and yellow eyes.  White base to the tail and white square on wings, most prominent in flight.

Voice: Loud ‘curra-cura-curra’.  Various whistles and other notes.

Habits: Singles and pairs or flocks (up to hundreds if food is abundant)  in autumn –winter.  Noisy bold, tame around settlements (except when young are present when they can be very aggressive).  Feeds on ground on tree trunks, branches and amongst the leaves.

Food: Small mammals, birds, eggs and young, reptiles insects fruits, berries.  (The species coughs up pellets which show what they are eating.  If you wish to keep them away from your area a good tip is to make sure there is no old dog food around.).

Nest: Flattish bowl of sticks in fork of tree, 5 – 15 metres high.

Occurrence in revegetation:  Found in 22% of sites, small and large, but mostly older sites from 8 years of age onwards.  Mostly one-off sightings, regular at only a few sites.

(Garden Bird Survey: Undertaken by COG in the gardens of members of that Group records this species as very common, recorded in all sites..  It is recorded in nearly all weeks of the year.  It has become much more common in the City in recent years.)