May 2014

Despite the rather dry and warm weather in the middle of the month bird diversity was quite reasonable.  I ended up entering 81 species in the database, an increase of two species on those recorded in April 2014 (there is normally a slight decrease between those months) and three more than recorded in May 2013.

In terms of 'excitements' a Freckled Duck ...

.. was seen on a farm dam and photographed by Garry.  This was only our second record in the area: they seem to have disappeared from Canberra, but there are still a few around in Queanbeyan.  Also a second record for this project was a Restless Flycatcher seen on Wanna Wanna Road.  (This species looks somewhat like a Willie Wagtail but usually reveals itself by a loud churring call made as it hovers over tussocks seeking insects.)

A Musk Duck was also spotted (from the road) on Foxlow Lagoon.  This was the first seen since November 2013 - not 2011 as I said in the Gaxzette article!  That water is a hotspot for the species in the Canberra area.  It appears that they prefer dining on yabbies which become plentiful when water inundates a well vegetated area: this seems quite sensible with the water level n the lagoon rising recently after the dry of 2013.

Thanks to observers in Wanna-wanna and Widgiewa Roads,and the Hoskinstown Plain.   Please advise any interesting sightings to me at martinflab@gmail.com.

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

2 Birds of Prey:  Brown Goshawk;  Wedge-tailed Eagle;  Nankeen Kestrel

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: Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Laughing Kookaburra

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler;Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; WillieWagtail;Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin;Red‑capped Robin, Flame Robin; Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow; 

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species:  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Weebill; Striated Thornbill; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill; Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Silvereye; Double‑barred Finch; Red‑browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; 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

Some birds of Bungendore

This post is more about showing off some pleasant images than great news.

On 6 May I went for a patrol around Bungendore looking for water birds.  There was little water in some places and few birds in most places.

No Plumed Whistling Ducks were found anywhere.  I wonder where they have gone.  At the sewage works there were a couple of Shovelers and smallish numbers of Grey Teal and Eurasian Coots.

The big dam off lake Road had a small pool of water and a mud hollow but no birds.  So I turned around and about 200m up the road saw...

 ... an Egret.  The overall appearance made allocation to species quite easy but going for Cattle Egret was confirmed by the company it was keeping.

By the time I got back to Darmody's Dam a pair of Australian Shelduck had appeared.

 Note the white ring around the beak of the female.

In the background a reasonable number of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were perched in a tree.  The question is how many?

My count was 54 in this tree and slightly more than that in two other trees and the nearby hay rack.  As about 40 had flown off as I arrived there could easly have been 150 in the area when I got there.  On occasion I have estimated over 500 each of this species and a similar number of Galahs present at one time.