November 2010

In  November 2010 a very good score of  97 species of birds were recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette with 19 species recorded as breeding.  Thanks to several observers in: Hoskinstown; the Molonglo Valley, Primrose Valley, Radcliffe,  Wanna Wanna and Widgiewa Road.   

As well as the relatively unusual (for this area) species of Little Corella, Superb Parrot and Channel-billed Cuckoo (and the Common Myna unfortunately seen in Hoskinstown), three new species have been added to the list this month.  The Scarlet Honeyeater is unusual away from the Coast, while Latham’s Snipe and Whistling Kite are both quite common in the ACT.  These reports from the Hoskinstown Plain are the first made to me for this area.

Migrants are shown in italics below and species for which breeding (broadly defined) has been observed this month are underlined.

1  Waterbirds:  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal; Chestnut Teal; Pacific Black  Duck; Australasian Grebe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑faced Heron; Eurasian Coot; Masked Lapwing; Latham’s Snipe.

2 Birds of Prey:  Whistling 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;  Little Corella; Sulphur-crested Cockatoo; Australian King-parrot; Superb Parrot; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Red^‑rumped parrot.

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Stubble Quail; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Channel-billed Cuckoo; Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo;Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan-tailed Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo; Southern Boobook;; Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher; Rainbow Bee‑eater; Dollarbird;

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

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

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species:  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Speckled warbler; Weebill; White-throated Gerygone; 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; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Olive-backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Australian Reed-warbler; Rufous Songlark; Common Blackbird; Common Myna; 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

Birding Locations    

Rather than going out and about this month, I will draw attention to two internet sites that I think are of value to people in this community.  They are both quite new and will get bigger and better as people and organisations submit records to them.

The first is the Atlas of NSWWildlife which is rather focussed on the flora and fauna of official reserves in NSW.  It is run by an element of the NSW Government.  However it is possible for individuals to add data from their own sightings to this database.  As well as birds the site also collects data on plants and other types of animals.  It can also be sarched so that people can find what has been recorded in an area.

The second site is very new in that it was only launched in the last month.  This is the Atlas of Living Australia which is managed through  CSIRO.  The site includes a facility to access all records within the Atlas within a 5km radius of your home.  Again, it is possible for individuals to provide data.