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.)
