April 2011

In  April  75 species of birds were recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette.  This is 13 less than in March this year and 3 less than in March 2010.  I suspect a reduction in reporting may explain some of that! Thanks to several observers in: the Molonglo Valley, Captains Flat Road, and Widgiewa Road.   

Only 2 species were recorded as breeding.  The dependent young Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were late, but the nest with young Red-browed Finch was surprising as I had n’t noticed a quite large nest being constructed until the young squawked.  Juvenile Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos  are heard begging as they fly over but I regard this as evidence of indolence rather than breeding in the area. The regular events of Autumn/Winter have been noted: flocks of finches feeding on grass-seeds, mixed flock of several small bird species, and  flocks of migrating honeyeaters.

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

2 Birds of Prey:  Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon; Australian Hobby;

3 Parrots and Relatives:  Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; Galah;  Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Fan-tailed Cuckoo; Southern Boobook; Laughing Kookaburra;

5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; White‑plumed Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird;; White-naped Honeyeater; Noisy Friarbird

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler; Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Rufous Fantail; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin;, Flame Robin; Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow; 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; Dusky Woodswallow; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Mistletoebird;

9  Other, larger birds: Grey Butcherbird; Australian Magpie; Pied Currawong; Grey Currawong; Australian Raven; Little Raven.

Parrots and Relatives

The list for the area includes 11 species in this group, which includes the Parrots and Cockatoos

4 species are very common and seen every month.  These are Crimson and Eastern Rosella, Galah, Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo.  A fifth species, the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo has only failed to be reported in 1 of the 49 possible months.  Gang‑gang Cockatoos are also pretty common being recorded in 42 months.

The small Red-rumped Parrot is moderately common being recorded approximately 50% of the time.  This may reflect its liking for the grassy habitat of the Hoskinstown Plain and if we don’t spend time down there tend to miss it.  

The remaining species are rarely recorded.  The beautiful Australian King-parrot has only been recorded in 8 months and the Superb Parrot in 4.  The observations of the Superb Parrot have all been in early Summer as the species moves out from its core territory near Boorowa (although they are becoming much commoner in Canberra).  Little Corellas have only been recorded in 3 months, but as the Canberra population is exploding they are likely to become more common out here.