October 2007

In October 2007 I have recorded 67 species of birds in a 3 hectare area around our house on Whiskers Creek Road (or, for those in brackets, other parts of the area).  An asterisk in the list below shows those species which I have noticed undertaking breeding activities.

Water birds:  White-faced heron, Australian wood duck, ( Little pied cormorant, Masked Lapwing, Australasian grebe, Pacific black duck, Grey teal)

Birds of prey Brown goshawk,( Nankeen kestrel)

Parrots and relatives:, Sulphur-crested cockatoo, Galah, Crimson rosella, Eastern rosella, Gang-gang cockatoo, Yellow-tailed black-cockatoo.

Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Laughing kookaburra, Pallid Cuckoo, Sacred kingfisher, Crested pigeon, Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Southern boobook, (Australian Owlet-nightjar)

Honeyeaters:, White-eared honeyeater, Yellow faced honeyeater, Red wattlebird, Noisy friarbird, (Noisy Miner ).

Flycatchers and similar species: Golden whistler, Rufous whistler, Welcome swallow, Tree martin, Dusky woodswallow, Willie wagtail, Grey fantail (Scarlet robin, , Magpie-lark,⁾

Other, smaller, birds: Western gerygone, ,White-browed scrubwren, Weebill, Striated thornbill, Yellow-rumped thornbill, Buff-rumped thornbill, , Superb fairy-wren, White-throated treecreeper, Silvereye, Spotted pardalote, Striated pardalote*, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Olive-backed Oriole, Red-browed finch, European goldfinch (Common starling, House sparrow, Richard’s Pipit⁾ Mistletoebird, White-throated Gerygone, Speckled warbler,)

Other, larger, birds: Pied Currawong*, Grey currawong, Grey butcherbird, Australian Magpie*, Australian Raven, Little Raven (White-winged chough)

I have been particularly impressed by the number of cuckoos seen around the area, especially seeing 4 species from our veranda!  They are readily distinguished by song: Pallid cuckoo, a plaintive repeated whistle, Fan-tailed cuckoo, a repetitive churr; Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo, a descending whistle; Shining bronze-cuckoo, an ascending whistle.

Bird of the Month

This is based upon material in the very good book “bringing birds back” published by Greening Australia.  Comments in brackets are by this author.

Grey fantail: Rhipidura fuliginosa

Appearance: Grey with a white throat, black bib and buff underparts.  Long dark grey tail with white edges held cocked and fanned (note the name!) or opened and closed, switched this way and that.  (The juvenile is much browner.)

Voice: A sweet squeaky tinkling song; also often-repeated single note ‘check’.

Habits: Singly or in pairs.  Energetic and conspicuous, performing constant aerobatics after flying insects.  (The fluttery flight of the bird can be very distracting.)

Food:  Mostly insects. 

Nest:  Small neat cup with a tail; of grasses and fine strips of bark bound with spider web on a thin branch or vertical fork in shrubs or young trees.

Occurrence in Revegetation:  recorded in 69% of revegetation sites at least once.  A spring/summer migrant (note its food!), with most birds recorded from late August to April although some birds can be found overwintering in the region (mainly at lower elevations than Stoney Creek/Carwoola).

(Garden Bird Survey: This Survey, run in the gardens of members of the Canberra Ornithologists Group, shows that the bird increased in numbers from the start of the Survey in 1980 until the late 1990s, since when it has declined in numbers.)