Tuesday, June 1, 2010

May 2010


In  May 80 species of birds were recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette.  Thanks to several observers in: Hoskinstown; the Molonglo Valley, Widgiewa Road,   An Emu was seen near Hoskinstown: is anyone aware of any farmed emus in the area?  Two other species were added to the list: Red-capped Robin and Dusky Moorhen.

Migrants are shown in italics below and species for which breeding has been observed this month are underlined.
1  Waterbirds:  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; DarterLittle Pied Cormorant; White-faced Heron; Dusky Moorhen;  Eurasian Coot; Masked Lapwing
2 Birds of Prey:  Wedge-tailed Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Peregrine falcon.
3 Parrots and Relatives:  Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; Galah;  Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped parrot.
4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Emu; Brown quail; Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Laughing Kookaburra;
5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; Brown‑headed Honeyeater; White-naped Honeyeater.
6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Red-capped Robin, Flame Robin; Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow; Tree Martin
7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species:  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Speckled warbler; Weebill; Striated Thornbill; Yellow-rumped Thornbill; Buff-rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Southern Whiteface; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Silvereye; Double‑barred Finch; Red-browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch
8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Spotted  Quail-thrush; Varied Sitella; Black‑faced Cuckoo-shrike; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Mistletoebird; Australasian Pipit;
9  Other, larger birds: Satin Bowerbird; Grey Butcherbird; Australian Magpie; Pied Currawong; Grey Currawong; Australian Raven; Little Raven; White-winged Chough

Birds of Cuumbeun Nature Reserve

This Reserve is at the start of the Captains Flat Road with components on both sides of the road.  In compiling this commentary I have been assisted by information from the NSW Wildlife Atlas, run by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

In total 55 species of birds are recorded for this area, suggesting that there has not been a great deal of time put in to birding in the area.  If anyone else goes there are builds up a bird list I’d welcome their information.  17 of the species are migrants suggesting that the warmer months may give a good range of species.  This includes the 5 commonest species of cuckoo (Fan-tailed, Pallid, and Brush Cuckoos plus Shining and Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoos) together with the commoner migrant flycatchers.  

Scarlet Robins have been seen in the bush generally and Eastern Yellow Robins (less common in the area) have been seen in the damper gullies on both sides of Captains Flat Road.  The only species of diurnal (ie daylight hunting) raptor seen has been Wedge‑tailed Eagle but both Southern Boobook Owl and Tawny Frogmouth have been recorded.

All the common bush Parrots and Cockatoos have been recorded, with the exception of the Ganggang Cockatoo, probably reflecting absence of their favourite seed foodstuffs.  A similar situation is evident with Honeyeaters: Yellow-faced, White-eared, Brown-headed and White-naped Honeyeaters, Red Wattlebird and Noisy Miner have all been recorded in the Reserve.
As theer is limited open water in the Reserve no ducks or other waterbirds have been recorded.  The absence of grassland has also led to the absence of species found in that habitat such as most finches (Red-browed have been recorded) Skylarks and Pipits.