Routes of Carwoola

This is sort of an explanation for some of the places that I go birding.

The first is along Whiskers Creek Rd.

What will be species 200?

Following the influx of new species in February 2018, giving  total of 198, I pondered what species will be #200 on our list.  There seem to be two broad classes of possibilities:

1. species which have been recorded in the broad local area but which we haven't scored here; or
2. a total vagrant not regularly seen in the ACT or anywhere close.

I don't think its possible to predict anything about class 1, but with class 2 there is some scope for contemplation.To get a handle on this I looked at my overall bird list (and I can't remember exactly how I acquired that - possibly a set of birds ever reported to COG including escapees, very old records and flat-out mis-identifications) of 290 species.  I then coded these fairly subjectively into 5 codes:

1. Equivalent to group 1 above:
1. Likely to be seen eventually (11 species)
2. Unlikely but possible (6)
3. Very unlikely but possible (13)
2. Equivalent to group 2 above:
1. Vagrants to ACT region (19)
2. Where on earth did that come from? (41)

Logic says the next species or three should come from the 11 species in group 1.1.  They are:

• White-headed Pigeon: Not common in Canberra but seems to be expanding its range especially along the coast in Victoria.
• Peaceful Dove: Infrequent in the ACT mainly close to the Murrumbidgee.  Lack of water may hold it back from our area
• Diamond Dove: as for Peaceful Dove.
• Rainbow Lorikeet: Well established in parts of the ACT and a population in Queanbeyan.  I'd rate this as a definite contender.
• Little Lorikeet: This was the second commonest Lorikeet in the ACT but no recent records.
• Musk Lorikeet: Used to be quite uncommon but a near-resident population seems to have become established in Wanniassa,
• Crested Shrike-tit: This species used to be common in restricted habitat in the ACT but seems to be less common recently.  I can't think of suitable habitat in this area.
• Eastern Whipbird: Prefers moist forest - gullies in the Brindabellas are local stronghold.  Could find spots in Cuumbeun or Yanununbean
• Pied Butcherbird: Becoming increasingly common (and now breeding) in the ACT.  It seems to be expanding its territory more than the Rainbow Lorikeet.  The question is will it been #199 or 200?
• Little Wattlebird: Very common at the Coast and infrequent in Canberra.  I'm sure they come through the area, but no-one has yet spotted one!
• Bassian Thrush: Reported from Tallaganda, ANBG and the Brindabella.  Could pop up here on the way between them.

Biting the bullet I'd say the next three species will be #199 Pied Butcherbird; #200 Rainbow Lorikeet and #201 White-headed Pigeon.

A roughy could come from the 6 species in Group 1.2:  Brush Bronzewing more densely wooded areas); Great Crested Grebe (Foxlow Lagoon, and the marsh on The Plain);  Caspian Tern (anywhere there is open water); Red-capped Plover (edges of any dam but uncommon in the area except Lakes George and Bathurst);  Little Egret (uncommon but anywhere there is water); and  White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike (uncommon, but could pop up anywhere).

Migrant depatures

In my last monthly report I promised to look at migrant departures for 2018.  So here you are!

I have probably noted in the past that departures are a bit harder to deal with than arrivals.  This is not just a phenomenon of Carwoola or even Australia: Bill Oddie has noted in one of his tomes that spotting the last record for a year is a good way of getting your name in a birding clubs annual report.  It's not hard to see why:

• when you see a bird for the first time in a year it is easy to know its the first time; but
• if you see a bird on day x, late in the season; you don't know if you might also see one on day x+n (and 'n' might be quite a large number) so records have to be kept.

In the case of my records this means that not seeing a species in month X might mean they have migrated or just that no-one has reported one, and they might turn up next month.  So a definitive report can only be made at the end of the season.  However progress reports can be made about how the season is looking.

In this chart I have looked at the months in which migrant species have been spotted over the 11 years of this project and assessed which month is usually the last sighting.  This is marked in yellow in the graphic below.  I have then marked off whether the species has been seen or not in January or February and rated the status of the species.

I had noticed that cuckoos were very thin on the ground (or the tree or phone line) and that appears to be confirmed.  The only cuckoo recorded in February was a Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo.  The other 4 common Cuckoos had all vanished.  Possibly this is because the species they parasitise had given up nesting due to the dry January-mid February.

Overall, of the 12 species for which a rating is possible, 2 were seen after they would usually had gone, and 5 appear to have left early.  Arithmetic gives 5 species "on time" (so far). 

A further 9 species should get their status clarified in March.

February 2018

A quite extraordinary month with 3 taxa added to the overall list.  That gets the total to 198 species: I wonder which species will be # 200?

The most exciting sighting this month was a Spangled Drongo sighted on Wanna Wanna Rd.  This is an addition to the list for the area.  The species is quite unusual in the COG area - effectively Adamniaby to Goulburn.  No sightings in that area since 2014 before with in had been seen at least once in 12 of the previous 15 years.

The late breaking news (since the Gazette aricle was finalised) is the identification, from calls over a two week period, of a White-throated Nightjar at Hoskinstown.  The species is a rare Summer visitor to the Canberra area and this is another first for the Gazette area.

A third unusual sighting for the Gazette area was a Red-necked Avocet (which had been seen in the Gazette in the past, with a single bird in the marsh on Hoskinstown Plain in November 2016).

Two were seen during a visit to look down on Foxlow Lagoon on 15 February.  On a subsequent visit to the site there were 15 Red-necked Avocet and a similar number of Black-winged Stilts.

 

(Those images are from the photo pages towards the start of this blog!)  Possibly they were birds relocating from Lake George which is pretty much dry now.

I must also list the fourth sighting of a Scarlet Honeyeater in the area.  This was from a property on Captains Flat Rd and may suggest that at least one of the birds seen on Wanna Wanna Rd in November 2017 has hung around over Summer.

My final "bird of particular interest" was a Hybrid Crimson x Eastern Rosella. It basically looked like an Eastern Rosella except for the blue cheeks of a Crimson Rosella.

It was hanging out in our crab-apple tree with a small flock of Crimson Rosellas (and behaving like a Crimson rather than an Eastern).  This is also a first recording of the taxon for the area but appears here because its a hybrid, not a full species.

The first Spotted Dove for a long while was seen near the Hoskinstown Community Hall.  Please only shoot this invasive pest if you get a safe and legal shot at it.

With all that excitement it is a little surprising that the number of species seen had dropped both in comparison with January 2018 and February 2017.  However the 98 species recorded in February  this year is only 1 species below the average for the month.

Breeding has continued in a small way with 5 species reported.  The most interesting was a Satin Bowerbird feeding a young bird on Wanna Wanna Rd.

I expect that the migrants have started to head off: apart from normal seasonal issues declining day length may be signalling that its time to head off.  I shall investigate what is missing in an ad hoc post in the next few days.

As always, thanks to the observers who have provided reports to me for the month.  These have covered sites in Whiskers Creek Rd, Captains Flat Rd, Widgiewa Rd, Knox Close, Wanna Wanna Rd, the Molonglo Valley and Hoskinstown Village and Plain.  Please pass on interesting sightings to me by email to martinflab@gmail.com. 

1  Waterbirds (pt 1):  (pt 2); (Pt 3); (Pt 4): Black Swan;  Australian Wood Duck; Pink-eared Duck; Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe;  Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑faced Heron;Australian White Ibis; Eurasian  Coot; Black-winged Stilt; Red-necked Avocet; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing.

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk; 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; Hybrid Crimson-Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped Parrot

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds (Pt 1) (Pt 2) (Pt 3): Stubble Quail; Spotted Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; White-throated Nightjar; Australian Owlet-nightjar; Southern Boobook; Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher; Dollarbird; 

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Spangled Drongo; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Satin Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Scarlet 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; Red‑browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

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

January 2018

Last month I compiled the Annual Report for 2017.  For those who missed it, it starts at this post with links to other sections at the foot of the post.

I've also posted a few other items as the month evolved:

• White-winged Trillers earned a special post by being very evident this year;
• With hot dry weather a lot of birds visited our bird bath for a drink or a splash.
• A juvenile Pallid Cuckoo was eventually identified.

We recorded 103 species for the month.  This is an increase of 8 species on December 2017 but 15 species less than January 2017 when the marsh on the Plain was full of water and birds.  It was almost dead on average compared to years since 2010.

Water birds have been rather sparse this season with attractive floods in Victoria,  However, with 8 species recorded, raptors have made a better showing than recent months.  The presence of 6 Brown Falcons on the Plain is notable.

The least common bird seen this month was Red-capped Robin with 2 birds seen on the Plain.  They have more usually been seen in November or December and this sighting might mean they bred in the area but this isn't proven.  (There have been several reports of breeding in the ACT this season).  The other exciting breeding reports have been the success of the Banded Lapwings on the Plain.  The two chicks are now almost full grown and the flock is now up to 7 birds.

Most Summer migrants were still around in January, but some species will soon start moving off.  If we get any storms appear the chances of spotting Swifts will increase over the next couple of months

Breeding is, as expected, beginning to wind down.  15 species were observed breeding this month with all records being of dependent young birds.  Since first drafting this post I have been told of an Australasian Pipit's nest with one egg being located when the adult bird was disturbed by a mower.  The breeding species are marked in red in the detailed list 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, Knox Close, Wanna Wanna Rd, the Molonglo Valley and Hoskinstown Village and Plain.  Please pass on interesting sightings to me by email to martinflab@gmail.com. 


1  Waterbirds (pt 1):  (pt 2); (Pt 3); (Pt 4): Black Swan;  Australian Wood Duck; Pink-eared Duck; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; Great Cormorant;White‑necked Heron; White‑faced Heron;Australian White Ibis; Eurasian  Coot; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing; 

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk; Collared Sparrowhawk; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon; Peregrine 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): Stubble Quail; ; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth;  Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo;  Brush 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; Noisy Friarbird;

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Red‑capped 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; Red‑browed Finch; Diamond Firetail; House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Varied Sitella; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; White‑-winged Triller; Olive‑backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; 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

An embarrassment of Cuckoos

On 20 January as we returned from our dog walk I noticed that the Leaden Flycatchers around the garden were making a ruckus.  The reason for this seemed to be clarified when a dark striated Cuckoo flew from a low bush, accompanied by one of the Flycatchers.  The latter flew to the cuckoo and fed it.

I didn't have binoculars with me and when I consulted my Field Guide it indicated that Leaden Flycatchers were hosts for Brush Cuckoos.  As they have been evident around the house recently I thought that resolved the issue, and announced it to COG.

An hour or so later i was at the Creek and heard a begging bird sound.  There was the Cuckoo again. I scurried back to the house, grabbed bins and camera and returned to the creek, quite quickly locating the young Cuckoo.  It was in a reasonably well lit position.

 Of course that didn't last and it flew into a much shadier spot where its host flew in to feed it.

I was able to get a decent look at the host as it gathered food from the willows.  It wasn't a flycatcher of any species: it was a Yellow-faced Honeyeater.

On returning and checking the photo against my field guide it was obvious that the cuckoo was a Pallid Cuckoo rather than a Brush Cuckoo.  That was good, as they are usually hosted by Honeyeaters.

A correction was offered to readers of the COG chatline.

In terms of breeding records I have decided that I should include this under both species:

1. Pallid Cuckoo because it has added to that species; and
2. Yellow-faced Honeyeater since it shows the area is suitable for them to breen in, if they don't get parasitised!

Year to date in the yard

Apart from keeping records of birds seen in the area generally I also maintain a COG Garden Bird Survey site.  The principle of this is to record:

1. the maximum number of birds of each species;
2. seen in a week;
3. within 100m of a house.

Practically the third criterion is a bit flexible since if a bird-attractive feature is nearby human nature will include the birds seen there.  So as long as the site is no larger than the area of a circle with radius 100m (ie 3.14 Ha) it is acceptable.  It is also helpful in maintaining some rigour if the boundaries are physically recognisable (eg fences, roads etc).  Birds overflying the site are included.

My site is shown below.

The polygon function of Google Earth shows the area as 2.8 Ha which is pretty close to the required limit.  Of course the area is not covered evenly: the section visible from my study window (see below) is monitored for 4 hours a day minimum while the dam and Whiskers Creek get checked for perhaps a couple of minutes every second day (depending on what I'm doing around the block).

The Survey operates on a year beginning 3 July so that breeding seasons falls within a single year.  It starts on 3rd July because the original proponents felt it important to keep the week numbers consistent with desk diaries (!!!! - but we are dealing with a Survey that starts before personal computers had been invented!) in which the the start of week 1 is January 1.

The reason for compiling this post is that the results for this GBS year so far are a bit strange in a number of ways. Since starting the site in February 2007 I have recorded 111 species within the site.  This chart shows the pattern through which that total has been arrived at.   

The dashed line is a logarithmic trend line which seems to be usual form of trend followed in such activities.  I added two species last GBS year:  Channel-billed Cuckoo (an unusual species in the Southern Tablelands) and Flame Robin (common on the Hoskinstown Plain but not up here - they are renowned colonisers after fire).  So far this year I have added one species: Rufous Songlark- again quite usual on the Plain but not so common up here.

One of the major unusual features of the year is the pattern of total diversity.  The next graph shows the cumulative total number of species seen as the current year progresses and the equivalent average over the 10 previous years..

We were seriously underperforming until the week ending 27 September, when 7 species were added to the tally.  The total got a further boost, of 6 species, in the first week of October.  Additional species have continued to be added.

I am currently at 81 species for the year.  I did an extrapolation of a trend line fitted to the data up to 16 January and that indicated about 85 species would be the total.  As there are 30 species seen in previous years which I have not yet recorded this year that seems to be quite achievable, and there are at least 10 MIAs which are regular in the Gazette area.

Another way of looking at the current year is that the number of species already recorded is equal to or greater than the number recorded in any full year except 2009-10.

Four species in particular had caught my attention as appearing more frequently than in the past.  To give a little rigour to the analysis I compiled a table of species seen by week compared this year (so far) with the average of other years.  This added a few more "interesting" species.

I have written a specific post about White-winged Triller so will not say more about them here.

The second species is Dusky Woodswallow.

So far this year I have recorded them in the GBS site in 19 weeks, whereas the average is 2.78 weeks per year.  In other years they have been very common on Whiskers Creek Road (about 300m away) but much less so this year.  They have also been very aggressive to other birds - including this Kookabura.

Note the hurtling Woodswallow  lower right in the photo.  (This image was rejected by ebird because the Kooburra dominated the depiction of the Woodswallow.)  They have also given Magpies similar treatment.  This made me wonder if they were nesting in the area and on 15 January I  saw a Dependent Young Woodswallow.

The third species is Red-rumped Parrot.  .

I had only recorded this species once before in the site, although they are very common on the (relatively) nearby Hoskinstown Plain.  This year I saw a flock of 4 fly over just after New Year's Day and since then have been seeing and hearing them almost daily.  It has been suggested that the bush fire has opened up the vegetation and allowed some plants attractive to the parrots to come to seed.

The fourth species is Tree Martin.  These are not widespread in the area but a remnant Brittle Gum Woodland - about 8km away - with lots of hollows is a common nesting site for the species.  This year I have recorded them in 6 weeks compared to an average of 3.2 weeks in other years.  Their call is distinctive and pretty much continual as they hawk overhead.

An addition thrown up by the quantitative analysis is Sacred Kingfisher.  I have recorded them in 7 weeks this year, which I thought "usual" but in fact I have only recorded them on average 2.3 weeks per year in the past.  They appeared to be trying to excavate a nest hollow at one point

but didn't pursue this endeavour.

I realised that only 29 weeks of the year had passed so then expanded the number of weeks seen by 52/29.  (This gave a few false positives for migrants as a much higher proportion of their period of presence has occurred, so I ignored them.)  The main additional species drawn to my attention by this step was Magpie Lark, which has been recorded 9 weeks (after adjustment 16 weeks) compared to an average of 6 weeks.

The analysis also drew my attention to some species which have dropped significantly in their reporting rate.  The two most obvious, before adjustment, were Eastern Yellow Robin (average 28 weeks and even after adjustment only 5 weeks) and White-eared Honeyeater (average 34 weeks. 3.5 weeks after adjustment).  The adjustment process also drew attention to reduced recording of Common Blackbird, Yellow-rumped Thornbill and Common Bronzewing.  For the last species, they are commonly attracted by the fallen seed of Acacia dealbata which shrubs largely got incinerated in the fires.  I have not yet come up with a theory about the reason for the disappearance of the other species.