July 2018

In my Gazette notice I commented:

"I’ll repeat my opening to last month “A rather quiet month in terms of birding, possibly reflecting some observers taking a break from the cool (or lower) temperatures.” in the hope that the final few hours bring forth lots of good birds, as happened for June!"

The latest reports certainly brought in a few good species including Darter and Nankeen Night Heron.  As a result of those inputs we got to 77 species for the month, which given the cold and dry conditions I reckon is pretty good.

As well as the Stilt, Avocet and Banded Lapwing sightings listed in the Gazette another interesting sighting over the last months has been an increase in sightings of Black-shouldered Kites.  My memory is they were common some years ago, but have been hard to spot in recent times.  Another observer has commented that more have been seen than recently.  Perhaps they are getting desperate out West?  If so, it may mean that we also get an influx of Barn Owls in Spring if they find prey to locate in the extremely dry country.

No breeding records this month and migrants have not yet started to return.

Thanks to observers from Wanna Wanna Rd, Captains Flat Rd, Whiskers Creek Rd and Hoskinston village and Plain.  Please pass on interesting sightings to me by email to martinflab@gmail.com.  

Before getting to the detailed list of species see readers may be interested to check the Canberra Ornithologists Group's Birdinfo page.  It has just been updated with a lot of information from COG about all the species ever recorded in the area.  Most species also have images and calls.

1  Waterbirds (pt 1):  (pt 2); (Pt 3); (Pt 4):  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Grey Teal;  Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe; Darter; White‑faced Heron; Nankeen Night Heron;   Eurasian  Coot; Black-winged Stilt; Red-necked Avocet; Black‑fronted Dotterel; Red-kneed Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing; 

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Collared Sparrowhawk;Wedge-tailed 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; Powerful Owl; Laughing Kookaburra; 

5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; White-eared Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; Brown‑headed Honeyeater; 
6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Welcome Swallow;

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species (Pt 1) (Pt 2):  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren;  Weebill;Striated Thornbill; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill; Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill;Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Silvereye; Red‑browed Finch; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Skylark;  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