Koels in the rural area

Earlier this week I sent a message to various folk I know in the Carwoola area asking if any of them had seen or heard a Pacific Koel - using the eBird name for this species.  Hereafter I'll stick to Koel - its the only one round here.  This followed my hearing a call from somewhere down on the Plain on 15 December.

As a result of that I have had two responses, from areas about 3km apart, of repeated hearings of the species.  Both sites have habitat suitable for Koels so I initially believed there were two birds in the area.  Following further observations from the general area I consulted with a person researching Koels and the conclusion was that this could well be one bird moving around through the day.

The presence of even a single bird for several days is still unusual as in the past most of the records of the species have come from the urban area of Canberra.  A first map of this is that from the COG Bird Info facility.  This is very useful as it covers the entire period in which Koels have been recorded in the area.

The sightings in the Brindabellas are interesting since there would seem to be little food for Koels up there.  Otherwise it shows sightings around Canberra/Queanbeyan and Goulburn and one active cell in the Carwoola area - I presume this reflects a small number of sightings by myself.

The eBird record has a wider extent (it covers the whole world but in this case the area from Canberra East is the bit of interest).  However it has only become an important facility in the past few years, so lacks the length of the COG series.  It does show the big gap between the Coast and Canberra.  (As an aside, I have recorded Koel quite frequently in recent Summers at Mallacoota.) 

Zooming in to the eBird data shows sightings reported by me at Carwoola (including one from this morning, in orange).  It also shows some 2014 sightings from a couple of sites at Bungendore and Wamboin.

Looking at Goulburn the species is reported from 5 sites. 

A question of timing is also interesting.  The COG page shows the records of the birds by month:

This seems to correlate fairly well with the second broods of Red Wattlebirds in the ACT (and the presence there of the fruit Koels like to eat).

Much the same pattern, albeit at lower frequency, is shown in Carwoola.

The March records are interesting since they suggest a migration out of the area

In a post to the COG Chatline about the recent outbreak of sightings in Carwoola I referred to having issued a ukase about people reporting potential breeding records in this area to me.  Apparently this is an unusual word but material posted about its meaning could be summarised as 'a Tsarist edict of an arbitrary nature' which pretty much covers my intention.  I could have used the word 'bull' but people might just have thought that was my usual stuff rather than its use in a Papal sense.

Corellas in the 'hood

In the last couple of years there seems to have been an increase in sightings of Little Corellas in the area.  I thought it would be of interest to readers to summarise the situation locally and in the Canberra area generally.

This species has been recorded in 10 of the 105 months for which I have records.  However, 6 of those months have been September 2014 - January 2015 and now December 2015, which gives the impetus to the post.

The species is more commonly found in the dry country West of the Great Dividing Range.  This image shows them cleaning up split grain at the Deniliquin rice mill.  (and I

For the Canberra region the situation is shown in the following chart of reporting rate from the COG Bird Info page for the species.

It was - and I think still is - the view that the initial sightings were of birds that had escaped from the Mugga Lane Zoo.  However the birds are now so numerous and widespread that they have been recently joined by wild birds that have somehow got the message that there is good food and many tree hollows for nesting in this direction.

The distribution in the area is indicated in this map.

Notice the concentration of the pinkest cells around South Canberra: the hot-spots for the species are Callum Brae NR (adjacent to the former Zoo site) and Kingston/Barton (especially Telopea Park where the opening image was taken).  A little more locally they may often be seen in:

• Queanbeyan where the  Queanbeyan River goes under Monaro St; or
• Bungendore, both the holding paddocks on Trucking Yard Lane or Mick Sherd Oval.

An interesting comparison exists with Galahs.  While these are now very common birds in this area, going back to the 1950s they were very unusual here.This is illustrated by the Reporting Rate Chart from COG (I suspect the very low values prior to 1987 reflect reporting bias away from such common birds - they were well established by then).

Using data from the COG Garden Bird Survey compares the pattern for the two species.  Note that the two lines are at different scales, as indicated.

This led one analyst to ask whether it was likely that Corellas would overtake Galahs in the area.  One way of addressing such a question is to use an EXCEL trend function and project the trendlines forward.  Doing this as a mechanistic exercise suggests that the species will cross over in the nearish future.

Although the values of the correlation coefficient for Galah suggest that the trend line is quite good, I am distrustful of such a dramatic drop off as indicated by the projected trend line.

For this to happen there would have to be some dramatic event within the local Galah population or some element of the local environment on which they rely (perhaps conversion of all the grassland, which they use as a source of food, into McMansion Slums would do it? Should that be the case I would expect the Little Corellas to join them in going down the gurgler.

The key action here seems to be "Wait and See".  If the Galahs have regained numbers in 2014-15 then a different picture may emerge.

November 2015

The most unusual observation this month was a report of a Channel-billed Cuckoo.  This is only the second record of the species in the area but the observer is familiar with the unmistakable call of the birds (in Sydney).  There have also been a number of recent reports from Canberra.

Also noteworthy, because of the timing, was a flock of 10 White-throated Needletails over Widgiewa Rd.  They are usually seen in association with thunderstorms in January - March.

Other less common birds have been Restless Flycatcher; Red-capped Robin (the same bird as last month) Yellow-tufted Honeyeater in the Molonglo Valley, Great Egret and Cattle Egret.  The latter were a group of 9 birds foraging with cattle near the entrance to Mills Cross: at least one of the birds was close to breeding plumage and some photos are included in a separate post.  The other noteworthy development is that by the end of the month the Banded Lapwings appear to have moved on from their site near Hoskinstown.  They haven't been seen for about 3 weeks.

Overall the month has generated considerable diversity with 116 species reported.  That is the most (by 8!) species we have ever logged for November.

The migration period has pretty much finished with most of the usual suspects on deck.  Only 1 species of Woodswallow (Dusky Woodswallow) has been reported this year and they have been few and far between.  All the likely Cuckoos (except Australian Koel) have been reported at least once.

The breeding season has really hit its straps with an astonishing 31 species undertaking some form of procreational activity during the month.  'My' Tawny Frogmouths left the nest some time after 8 November while we were interstate and haven't been seen since.  Presumably they went somewhere less infested with bad tempered Pied Currawongs.  The breeding species are shown in red below.

As always thanks to the observers who have provided reports to me for the month.  These have covered sites in  Whiskers Creek Rd, Widgiewa Rd, Wanna Wanna, Bowen Street, Hoskinstown Plain and Village, Captains Flat Rd and Molonglo Valley. 

Summer migrants are highlighted in orange, and Winter migrants in blue.  


1  Waterbirds (pt 1):  (pt 2); (Pt 3); (Pt 4): Musk Duck; Black Swan;  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Pink-eared Duck; Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Chestnut Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Darter; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; Great Cormorant;  White‑necked Heron;  Cattle Egret; Eastern Great Egret: White‑faced Heron; Australian White Ibis; Straw-necked Ibis; Eurasian  Coot; Black-winged Stilt; Black‑fronted Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing; 

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk; Spotted Harrier; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown 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 (Pt 1) (Pt 2) (Pt 3):  Stubble Quail;  Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Australian Owlet-nightjar; White-throated Needletail; Channel-billed Cuckoo; Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo; Southern Boobook; Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher;  Dollarbird; 

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler;Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Restless Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Red‑capped Robin, Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow; Fairy Martin; Tree Martin

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species (Pt 1) (Pt 2):  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Weebill; White-throated Gerygone; 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; European Goldfinch

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper;Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; White‑-winged Triller; Olive‑backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Golden-headed Cisticola; Australian Reed-warbler; Rufous Songlark; Brown Songlark; Common Blackbird; Common Myna; 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