December 2009

In December, 96 species of birds have been recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette.  Thanks to several observers in: Hoskinstown; the Molonglo Valley, Widgiewa Road, Radcliffe Estate  and Wanna Wanna Road.  The list includes 2 new species for the project:Channel-billed Cuckoo and Black-eared Cuckoo – both are unusual species in the Monaro area. 

The breeding record for Yellow-rumped Thornbill was also remarkable as the chicks fledged after their nest (in a Pinus radiata) was taken in to Canberra as a Christmas tree and returned to this area when the nest was discovered! Another Common Myna has been seen  near Povey Place: I would really like to hear if anyone else spots 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:  Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑necked Heron; White-faced Heron; Australian White Ibis; Straw-necked Ibis; Eurasian Coot; Masked Lapwing

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

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

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Common Koel; Channel-billed Cuckoo; Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo; Black-eared Cuckoo;Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo; Southern boobook; Laughing Kookaburra;Sacred Kingfisher; Dollarbird;

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; 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; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; White-winged Triller; Olive-backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Australian Reed-warbler; Silvereye; Common Blackbird; Common Myna; Common Starling; Mistletoebird; Double-barred Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow; Australasian 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.  

Weebill: Smicornis brevirostris

Appearance:.Stubby little bird (Australia’s smallest bird) with very short (ie ‘wee’) bill.  Grey-brown above, cream-buff below.

Voice: Loud clear ‘dip-dip weebill’or ‘willy-weet willy weetee’.

Habits:Pairs or small groups, often with other small birds such as thornbills, pardalotes.  Active in and around foliage, sometimes hovers around outer leaves plucking off  lerps (known as ‘helicopter flight).   .

Food: Insects other small invertebrates.

Nest: Like a hanging sock with side entrance; of leaves, grass and spider web hung amongst smaller brances or outer foliage.

Occurrence in revegetation:  Found in 21% of sites from 5 years of age onwards.  Showed a preference for tubestock sites which have a higher ratio of eucalypts  to wattles than direct seeded sites and are therefore more likely to have lerps..

(Garden Bird Survey: Undertaken by COG in the gardens of members of that Group records this species as fairly common, recorded in 68% of sites..  It is recorded in all weeks of the year.)