December 2011

The biggest news from me this month is the addition of a new species to the list.  This was a Horsfields Bushlark (previously known as the Singing Bushlark) which I saw while riding my bike along Bungendore Rd, Hoskinstown, near the Mills Cross facility.  I mainly recognised the bird by its song: in appearance it is somewhat like a female House Sparrow.

On the same ride I saw 1 Brown Falcon, 2 Black-shouldered Kites and a Nankeen Kestrel.  The numbers of Brown Falcons and Black-shouldered Kites appears to have dropped to more normal levels.  The property owner concerned has indicated that this reflects a decline in mouse numbers to more normal levels.

On the last day of the month/year I was alerted to a possible Spotted Harrier visible from Plains Rd.  I was able to find the bird and agree with the identification.  This is the second observation of this species in the area.  Interestingly there has not been a single record of the closely related Swamp Harrier in the area covered by this blog.  They are much more common than the Spotted Harrier in the ACT.

In total this month we have recorded 97 species.  This is 11 fewer than the extraordinary diversity of November 2011 but 2 more than December 2010.  Here is the graph of long term numbers.

Of the 97 species, 21 were recorded undertaking some form of breeding activity.   This is one more (and a different mix of species) than  in November 2011 and more than double the number recorded in the very rainy December 2010.

Getting back to current events, many thanks to observers in Widgiewa Road, Hoskinstown, Plains Road, Radcliffe, Woolcara Lane and Molonglo River Park for their reports and records.

Here follows the list of species observed.  It is now possible to link to photographs of the birds in the pages towards the end of the blog.  Of the 164 species recorded since I started these reports 62 have associated photographs.  In the list this is  indicated by the name, in blue or purple type, being underlined.  Migrants are in italics and species for which breeding activity has been recorded in the month are in bold type.

1  Waterbirds:  Musk Duck;  Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal;  Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑necked Heron; White‑faced Heron; Australian White Ibis;  Purple Swamphen; Dusky Moorhen;  Eurasian Coot; Black‑fronted Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; 

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Whistling Kite, Brown Goshawk; Collared Sparrowhawk; Spotted Harrier; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon;

3 Parrots and Relatives:   Glossy Black-Cockatoo; Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; Galah;  Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo;  Superb Parrot; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped parrot  

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Stubble Quail; Brown quail; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Australian Owlet-nightjar; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Eastern Barn Owl;  Laughing Kookaburra;Sacred Kingfisher; Rainbow Bee‑eater.

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

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

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species:  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Speckled warbler; White-throated Gerygone; Weebill; Striated Thornbill;  Yellow‑rumped Thornbill; Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill;  Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Silvereye;  Double‑barred Finch; Red‑browedFinch; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Olive‑backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Horsefields Bushlark, Skylark; Australian Reed-warbler;  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

A further report, analysing 2011 as a whole, both in its own right and in comparison with the earlier years will be prepared over the next week.  Watch this blog!

As well as this report a couple of ad-hoc reports of birds in the general area, but outside the Catchment of the Gazette have been generated .  Readers may wish to peruse them.