November 2016

The above cartoon was originally published in Punch in November 1895.  It is pretty much a fair comment on birding in Carwoola 121 years later!

To deal with the less good bits first, this chart shows overall diversity was significantly lower than other recent Novembers.

We fell short in Waterbirds and Raptors with most of the MIAs in other categories being less common birds in this area.

Getting on to the better bits, despite the comment above the more unusual birds were all waterbirds.  I presume this means the change of seasons has led to the waterbirds moving around somewhat with many of those that left the area to seek the floods in Winter still being away and other species turning up.  

The star of the month, from a marsh on the Hoskinstown Plain, was the first record in this area of a Red-necked Avocet, featured below hiding behind an Australian Shelduck.  (I had not previously realised the similarity in colour of the head of the Avocet and the breast of the Shelduck.)

Other unusual sightings for this area, also from the marsh, were the second sighting of Whiskered Terns (8 birds)

 and the fourth of a Silver Gull.  Later in the month I received 2 sightings of Latham's Snipe at other sites on the Plain.

Breeding is still happening with 14 species being recorded in various stages of the process.  " Our" Frogmouths have successfully fledged 2 chicks after a drawn out process.  They have then vanished. A particularly interesting report is of a pair of Sacred Kingfishers occupying a tree-hollow in Knox Place: hopefully they'll complete the process.  The species are marked in red in the list below.

Migration has pretty much finished.  I had initially noted White-winged Triller (which seems to turn up some years and not others) as absent this year but have since got a report of them from Capatans Flat Rd.  Still missing is Rufous Songlark (COG has noted that they seem to have found enough habitat in the West to not need to come this way in 2016).  Neither of the big cuckoos (Channel-billed Cuckoo and Eastern Koel) have definitely turned up here yet, but are in Canberra.

As always, thanks to the observers who have provided reports to me for the month.  These have covered sites in Molonglo River Drive, Whiskers Creek Rd, Widgiewa Rd, Knox Close, Radcliffe Circuit, Douglas Close, Captains Flat Rd, Wanna Wanna, and Hoskinstown Plain.. I'm always happy to receive reports, my email address is martinflab@gmail.com.

Readers might like to also see this post from our block - noting that it shows a Sparrowhawk feeding in a rather sanguinary fashion.

1  Waterbirds (pt 1):  (pt 2); (Pt 3); (Pt 4): Black Swan;  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck;  Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Chestnut Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑faced Heron; Australian White Ibis; Eurasian Coot; Masked Lapwing; Latham’s Snipe;  Whiskered tern, Silver Gull

2 Birds of Prey:  Collared Sparrowhawk;Wedge-tailed Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; 

3 Parrots and Relatives: Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; Galah;  Little Corella; Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; 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; Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo;  Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher; 

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species:;Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; ; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher;  Magpie-lark;Scarlet 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; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

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

9  Other, larger birds: Satin Bowerbird; Grey Butcherbird; Australian Magpie; Pied Currawong; Grey Currawong; Australian Raven; Little Raven; White-winged Chough

Whiskered Terns in Carwoola pt 1

Today (13 November) I got a phone call saying that some terns were flying around the swamp in the Plain.  By the time I had got down there they'd been identified as Whiskered Terns and 8 were counted.  One of them came close several times allowing me to get some photos.  (As it was blowing a gale, and the birds fly quite quickly, the photographic process was "Point the camera in the general direction and press the button."  Seems to have worked OK).

 Sometimes there were up to 3 fairly close.  Here's a "poetry in motion" or Monetesque snap of a vol de deux.

October 2016

In the middle of the month a member of COG reported seeing Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens in Cuumbeun near the gate off Captains Flat Rd.  I was subsequently able to spot them close to the dam on Link Trail.  The red spots in the following map mark the most likely habitat for this species, which has been previously found in the area.

The other reported unusual  bird was a Nankeen Night Heron at a billabong off Wanna Wanna.  At this time of year it may be breeding somewhere in the area.

In total we recorded 96 species in the month.  This is quite a bit below the average since 2010.

17 of the MIAs are waterbirds.  As explained in this post, they have all gone  North and West!

Migrant species have been returning pretty much on schedule, in contrast to last year when a noticeable proportion were early.  The remaining species are White-winged Triller, the two Songlarks and the two big Cuckoos (Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo).  Pleas let me know if you spot any of these.  I would have expected the 'unusual' Woodswallows - Masked or White-browed to have appeared by now if they were coming so I think they are not appearing this year.

Breeding has been reported well with 17 18 species (marked in red below) at various stages of the procreational process.  It particularly pleasant to watch a pair of Leaden Flycatchers building a nest at a property on Wanna Wanna Rd.  First the female ...

 .. and then the male.  Note the blue-grey colour, very different to the shining jet-black of the closely related - but much less common in this area - Satin Flycatcher

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, Knox Close, Douglas Close, Captains Flat Rd, Wanna Wanna, and Hoskinstown Plain and Village. I'm always happy to receive reports, my email address is martinflab@gmail.com.

1  Waterbirds (pt 1):  (pt 2); (Pt 3); (Pt 4): Musk Duck; Black Swan;  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; Cattle Egret; White‑faced Heron; Nankeen Night Heron; Eurasian  Coot; Masked Lapwing

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

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

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds (Pt 1) (Pt 2) (Pt 3): Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth;  Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Southern Boobook;  Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher;  Dollarbird

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Scarlet 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; Chestnut-rumped heathwren; Speckled warbler; Weebill;  White-throated Gerygone; Striated Thornbill; Yellow Thornbill; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill; Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill;Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Silvereye; Red‑browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

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

Waterbird diversity

In recent months it has been difficult to find much diversity of waterbirds around the area.  This is reflected in a graph!

The dotted blue line is the number of species recorded each month.  As it varies through the seasons I have removed that source of variability by taking a 12 point moving average, giving the red line.  That shows a peak in Summer 2012-13 and another in Summer 2015-16 - with a very sharp drop in the last two months.

Why is this so?

I believe this to be due to rainfall effects, but they are far from simple.  The correlation between the original series of waterbird species and rainfall is very weak: a coefficient of -0.03!  However when the moving averages are compared the coefficient is quite strong at -70.7 : note the minus!  In simple words, when there is a period of sustained high rainfall fewer waterbird species are recorded.  This is because they spread out to the many water-bodies and become harder to spot.  On the other hand when there is a dry spell a few water-bodies survive and the birds are concentrated in them.

In the current situation waterbirds have basically vanished from South-eastern Australia.  The national birders chatline has had comments from Werribee (Victoria) to Gatton (Queensland) abut how the birds have vanished.  For some reason this has focused on Coots which have dropped from hundreds of (apparently) resident birds to none, or perhaps one or two breeding pairs.  In contrast a report from the Macquarie Marshes includes:

"...a non-birder,  phoned a couple of days ago to say she had justarrived at Macquarie Marshes (Willie Retreat). They  had come from Bourke and had to get there via Warren as the bridge at Carinda is out. She said there was almost continuous water in the roadside drains from Warren up to Gibson Way with birds by the hundreds in every "long puddle". 

Another more effusive report said

"We arrived two days ago in the Macquarie Marshes and I have to say I doubt in a number of continents and more years than I care to specify, I have ever seen anything like the numbers of birds - in the air, on water and whateverlittle land and trees there are. We counted about 70 plus species in little over an hour cruising along a few kilometres of the Gibson Way.

"Magpie Geese and Brolgas sticking their heads up above the abundant vegetation, Hardheads shepherding chicks while a couple of Australasian Bitterns boom in the reed beds. The second crossing east of Willie had a mixed assemblage of Great Egrets, Little Egrets, Straw and White Ibis using the flowing water for some angling while a couple well feed kites and a Little Eagle watched on.

"As far as the eye can see there were V-formations, flocks and mixed species clusters travelling in any direction and making avian air traffic control a serious issue. All this activity was not only visual as a cacophony of grunts and whistles drifted from the floating breeding centres anddistinctive odour of Ibis preen oil wafted through marshes."

 So what appears to be needed is some good rain here to get water into the ephemeral marsh on the Plain and Foxlow Lagoon and then a dry spell out West to get the birds here.

If this inspires folk to think about visiting the area the second report above also includes:

The road up from Warren has significant stretches underwater and it is"critical travellers check the local conditions. Gibson Way is closed as large sections have been churned up. It probably possible to get through but don't expect locals to applaud as you chew through their council rates on diesel for repairs.

So check the situation and be thoughtful of those who live in the area.