June 2011

Thanks to Julienne and John for pinch hitting for me this month while I visited the North Coast!!

In June 2011, 64 species of birds were recorded in the catchment area of the Gazette. Thanks go to observers in Hoskinstown, Forbes Creek and Widgiewa Road. Two species were recorded as breeding. A Black Swan with 3 dependent young was seen on Foxlow Lagoon and an Australasian Grebe also with 3 dependant young was observed on a dam in Hoskinstown. In the coming weeks we may be fortunate enough to see Black-shouldered Kites. Sightings of these kites have been noted in nearby locations where the number of mice has increased.  (Did we ever! see a post in my main blog for events in September -which carried on more on less into November.)

Bird species of June are listed below. Migrants are shown in italics below and species for which

breeding (broadly defined) has been observed this month are underlined.

1.Waterbirds: Musk Duck; Black Swan; Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; White-faced Heron; Dusky Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Masked Lapwing.

2 Birds of Prey: Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel.

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: Brown quail; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Laughing Kookaburra.

5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; White-eared Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird;

Brown-headed Honeyeater.

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler; Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush;

Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Welcome Swallow.

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; Silvereye; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch.

8 Other, smaller birds: White-throated Treecreeper; Varied Sittella; Dusky Woodswallow;

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.

Winter Birds

During the cooler months birds tend to „mob up‟ to form larger flocks for protection as they seek winter feed.

The larger birds are most likely to join with other families of their own species to roam. During the last 6 weeks there has been local sightings of groups of 50 -200 Little Ravens, up to 100 Aust. Wood Ducks, 200-300 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, 30-40 White-winged Chough, up to 50 CrimsonRosella and 25 Gang-gangs.

Mixed Feeding Flocks (MFFs) are the go for the smaller birds that are happy to form loose groups of mixed species. Amongst the trees in timbered country you may see a MMF of Varied Sittella, Whiteeared Honeyeater, White-throated Treecreepers, Superb Fairywren, Red-browed Finch, Buffrumped, Striated & Brown Thornbill, Weebill, Silvereye, White-browed Scrubwren and Scarlet Robin.

While on the Plain the MMF may be Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Superb Fairywren, Silvereye, Buffrumped  & Brown Thornbill, Flame Robin, Southern Whiteface, Red-browed Finch and occasionally Double-barred Finch and Diamond Firetail. The largest number noted recently was a MMF of 100.

However it is likely that rural properties will have experienced smaller groups