December 2010

In  December  2010 a good score of  95 species of birds were recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette with 10 species recorded as breeding.  Thanks to several observers in: Hoskinstown; the Molonglo Valley, Radcliffe,  and Widgiewa Road.   

There continue to be reports of a good number of cuckoo species, perhaps balanced out by waterbirds being very low in diversity.  Apparently all the ibis are breeding in the Riverina!

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; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; Little Pied Cormorant; White-faced Heron; Eurasian Coot; Masked Lapwing

2 Birds of Prey:  Brown Goshawk; Collared Sparrowhawk; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon; 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

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Emu; Stubble Quail; Brown quail; Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Common Koel; Channel-billed Cuckoo; Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo; Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan-tailed 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; Scarlet Robin; Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow; Fairy Martin; Tree Martin

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species:  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; 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: Yanununbeyan   

There are two large Reserves (a State Conservation Area –SCA - and a National Park –NP) and a smaller, largely inaccessible, Nature Reserve.  The SCA is accessible from the southern end of Woolcara Lane (be careful to stick to the road, and watch out for stock, when traversing private property). Some distance into the SCA, Spring Creek trail runs off eastwards to the NP (before hitting a gate to private property which should not be entered).  The NP can also be accessed from Captains Flat Rd at the Wombat Bridge (just after Sinclair Rd) although that involves some steep ridges.

71 species of birds have been recorded in these areas during my forays (usually >30 species in a visit) and other reports to the Atlas ofNSW Wildlife.  Many of these are the common birds reported through the area with the few waterbirds possibly reflecting the absence of large dams in the Reserves.  Nankeen night-heron and Eastern yellow robin have been reported from the Queanbeyan River which traverses the SCA.

There are a few birds reported which are not common – or are unreported -in the wider area.  These probably reflect the Reserves being a large area of woodland/forest (eg Powerful owl, Spotted quail-thrush, Crested shrike-tit, Brown treecreeper) or being somewhat higher than the area in general (Wonga pigeon, Red-browed treecreeper).