March 2013

In March 2013 we recorded 101 species of birds.  While this is a drop of 11 species since February2013 (and there is usually a decline between February and March) it is 6 species more than were recorded in March 2012 and is the greatest number we have recorded in the month of March.

Much of the drop is due to many of the migrant species leaving the area for more nutritious climes to the North, particularly the  insectivorous ones.  The only cuckoo recorded this month was a Common Koel (which eat fruit rather than insects as do most cuckoos in this area).  With Flycatchers the only species recorded are the partial migrant Willie Wagtail and Grey Fantail (and of course the Magpie-lark).

Waterbirds were also 'light-on', including sightings on the Foxlow Lagoon and the Swamp-on-the-Plain.  This is a surprise since the very limited rain in the last few months has caused most small dams to be well below capacity and I would have expected those two larger waterbodies to be fulfilling a refuge role.  Such puzzles are one of the things that make birding interesting.

Also seasonal has been the appearance of White-throated Needletails (aka 'Swifts') generally travelling on the front of storms.  Some of the local sightings have been part of a very low number of obserations reported to the guy who coordinates records of such sightings.

Thanks to observers on the Hoskinstown Plain and Village, Widgiewa Rd and Wanna-wanna Rd.

Three species, shown in red below, were observed undertaking breeding related activities during the month.  The Dusky Moorhen and Buff-rumped Thornbill had dependent young (probably both second broods) while the Satin Bowerbird was active at its bower, getting ready for next season.

1  Waterbirds:  Musk Duck; Australian Wood Duck;  Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe; Darter; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant;  White‑necked Heron; Great Egret: White‑faced Heron; Nankeen Night Heron; Australian White Ibis;  Purple Swamphen; Dusky Moorhen; EurasianCoot; Black‑fronted Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing.

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk; Spotted Harrier; 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; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped parrot
 

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Stubble Quail; Brown quail; Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Australian Owlet-nightjar; White-throated Needletail;  Common Koel; Southern Boobook; Laughing Kookaburra;  Rainbow Bee‑eater; 

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler;Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush;  Grey Fantail; WillieWagtail;  Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Flame 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; Varied Sitella; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Masked Woodswallow; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; 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

I have put up a couple of extra posts this month, summarising the Tawny Frogmouth experience and reporting on a number of flocks of small birds which turned up yesterday.

The Tawny Frogmouth situation for 2012

I didn't write up a formal (ie published by COG) report on the behaviour of the pair of Tawny Frogmouths which reside at our place last year.  That was mainly because there was no "stunning" new observation to include.  However I thought it worthwhile putting together a few words for this blog.

I think this image, showing one of the two chicks stretching its wing prior to flight, was the most interesting one I took this year.  (I hesitate to use the word best for an image with such dodgy exposure.)

The 'big picture' was of another successful year with 2 chicks raised to maturity.

The most puzzlesome aspect of the year was my reduced ability to locate the birds.  The situation for the male bird is shown in this table image comparing 2012 and 2011.

This is the equivalent image for the female.

While both birds were harder to find in May and June the female was also MIA for several days while the male was brooding.  I undertook quite a solid, but unsuccessful, search for the birds, including - with their permission - a foray into a neighbour's property.    This is annoying but ultimately, as long as the birds are OK, not a major issue.

By the end of 2012 I had found one or both birds in 25 roosts since I started this project.  2 of those - both towards or in aforementioned neighbour's property - were new for 2012 and 10 of the previous sites were not used by the birds on any day that I found them.  I site - very close to the original nest tree, but some 50m from the current nest was used by the female on 15 occasions during the brooding period.

The most interesting aspect of behaviour related to the "fledging" period.  I have put that word in quotes since I cannot get a clear definition of what it means.  There seem to be two interpretations:

• When the chicks first leave the nest; and
• When the chicks first fly.

Some people have claimed that these periods are identical.  That may be the case for many species but - this year more than in the the past - it was not the case for this family.  For a full week the chicks would leave the nest during the morning and together with the adult male shuffle some 5m along the large branch on which it was located.  All three then sat there, behaving as they would in the nest until about 4pm.  At that point they slowly shuffled back to the nest.  I checked with a spotlight during the night a few times and the chicks were in the nest at least until 10pm.

Migrants: theory and practice

When setting up my database to record the birds of Carwoola I included a field 'Migrant' in which a tick meant the bird was so described in the Annual Bird reports of the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG).  38 species are identified as migrants.

The catalyst for this post was a desire to indicate to observers in Carwoola (and anyone else who is interested) which species were likely to arrive/depart in the "change-over seasons".  My method of operating was to record the number of years in which a species has been reported for each month.  Rather than there being a simple binary (Present/Absent) condition I found there were 4 patterns evident as described below.

1  Traditional migrant
These are species which are present in Summer but absent in Winter.  This pattern is exemplified by the Leaden Flycatcher.

I have categorised 20 species in this group.   It includes 4 species - I will term them partial migrants -in which an occasional Winter sighting has been made, as exemplified by the Tree Martin.

 The set of species are ('partial migrants' are in red) :

White-throated Needletail; Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo; Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan-tailed Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo; Sacred Kingfisher;  Dollarbird; Western Gerygone; White-throated Gerygone; Noisy Friarbird; White-winged Triller; Rufous Whistler; Olive-backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Leaden Flycatcher; Australian Reed-warbler; Rufous songlark; Fairy Martin; Tree Martin.

2 Reverse Migrant

Two species arrive in this area in Autumn and depart in Spring/Summer.  This is exemplified by the Australian Shelduck

The other species is the White-naped Honeyeater.  In both cases they depart to breed in the higher Ranges to the West of Canberra (although I have seen fluff-ball Shelduck in this area).

3 'Not-really' migrants

This group are 6 species which COG categorise as 'migrants, but which are observed in this area more or less evenly through the year.  The pattern is exemplified by Grey Fantail.

The full set are:

Collared Sparrowhawk; Australian Hobby; Spotted pardalote; Striated pardalote; Yellow-faced honeyeater; Grey fantail

The two raptors are not commonly recorded here, but the number of reports is 'flat(ish) through the year.

4 Less common species.

In the Carwoola area this group of 10 species are more notable for their rarity than their seasonal pattern and are included here for the sake of completeness, rather than any commentary on their migration pattern. 

Fork-tailed swift; Eastern Koel; Channel-billed Cuckoo; Black-eared Cuckoo; Rainbow Bee-eater; Masked Woodswallow; White-browed woodswallow; Rufous Fantail;Satin Flycatcher; Brown Songlark