April 2013

This month we have recorded 91 species, down from 105 in March 2013 and 2 less than the soggy March 2012.  (An update has increased that to 92, which I do not feel significant enough to revise the analysis which  follows.) It would certainly seem that the dry weather is having an effect: apart from my own analysis of the weather, the Waterwatchers of the Molonglo Catchment group have commented that they have recorded 10 months in a row of below average rainfall.

The comparison of April 2012 and April 2013 is quite interesting in that it shows that the difference of 2 species is very much a net figure with about 30% of the species only being recorded in one year.

Of the 34 species seen in only one month I regard

• 10 as unusual (thus expected to be 'patchy' in occurence); 
• 8 as waterbirds (evenly split between years);
• 5 as migrants (4 missing in 2013  - left early?  harbingers of a cold Winter or just going somewhere wetter with more bugs?);and 
• 4 are raptors (3 missing in 2013 -has the dry weather reduced the amount of prey?); leaving
• 7 evenly split between the years, none of which are very common and evenly split between years.

Having started to obsess about that I decided to repeat the exercise comparing March and April 2013.

7 of the 19 missing species from April are migrants (so no surprise); and
8 are relatively rarely reported (no surprise again) and
4 are just 'missing'!

The 5 not reported in March were all more or less unusual birds although Shelduck have been regular on the Plain recently.

Thanks to observers from  Widgiewa Rd, Hoskinstown Plain and Village, Wanna Wanna Rd,  Radcliffe generally and Nummerak Close.

The only breeding record this month was a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo exploring a nesting hollow.

1  Waterbirds:  Musk Duck; Black Swan;  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck; Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead;Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑necked Heron; White‑faced Heron;  Australian White Ibis;  Royal Spoonbill;  Eurasian Coot;  Black‑fronted Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; 

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Collared Sparrowhawk; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little 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: Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Australian Owlet-nightjar; Southern Boobook; Eastern Barn Owl; Laughing Kookaburra; 

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler;Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; WillieWagtail; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Flame Robin;  Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow;Tree Martin

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

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Spotted  Quail-thrush; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Mistletoebird; Golden-headed Cisticola, Australasian  Pipit;

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

Some Images from Radcliffe Estate

Over the past couple of years we have recorded occasional sightings in the Widgiewa area of New Holland Honeyeaters dining on Banksias or Kniphofias.  However I was recently sent a video which included an sequence of several birds of this species enjoying a bird bath in Radcliffe.  The following images are screen grabs from that video, taken by Jeannie Imrie & Michael Wilkes.

The bird bath was also popular with a good sized flock of Red-browed Finches ...

... sometimes sharing with Silvereyes.

The area around this property is a favourite haunt of Cunningham's Skinks (OK, I know they aren't birds but are descended from dinosaurs and lay eggs).

Jeannie and Michael have subsequently sent me some additional images of which a selection, from various time periods, follow.

A Satin Bowerbird has visited in the past.  Trying to put demographics to this species is tricky but my guess is a young male bird (throat too colourful for a female and bill too dark for a 5 or 6 year old male).

White-winged Choughs often seem to crowd on one side of a birdbath (in my experience occasionally leading to a fallen bath).  This lot seem to have kept their balance.

A Grey-Shrike-thrush in a pot.  Jeannie commented that they nest "every year in the geranium pots hanging on the walls. This year they only managed the one brood, but last year they had two batches."

Wedge-tailed eagles don't fit in birdbaths or flower pots!

Small-birds-R-Us

We have had a bird bath for some time, and it took about a year for the birds to start frequenting it.   They now do so regularly and get snapped when they hang around long enough for me to fire up my camera.

Today a flock of Superb Blue Wrens did the honours and I thought the images good enough to use a few of your electrons.  The original title of the post referred to them.

Shortly afterwards a flock of Red-browed Finches (aka Red-browed Firetails) also appeared for a splash and a slurp.  So the title was changed.

Then a horde of Silvereyes descended on the sunroom bed so the title changed again!  These are very active little birds so it was difficult to get good images (possibly I need to keep trying).

March 2013

In March 2013 we recorded 101 species of birds.  While this is a drop of 11 species since February2013 (and there is usually a decline between February and March) it is 6 species more than were recorded in March 2012 and is the greatest number we have recorded in the month of March.

Much of the drop is due to many of the migrant species leaving the area for more nutritious climes to the North, particularly the  insectivorous ones.  The only cuckoo recorded this month was a Common Koel (which eat fruit rather than insects as do most cuckoos in this area).  With Flycatchers the only species recorded are the partial migrant Willie Wagtail and Grey Fantail (and of course the Magpie-lark).

Waterbirds were also 'light-on', including sightings on the Foxlow Lagoon and the Swamp-on-the-Plain.  This is a surprise since the very limited rain in the last few months has caused most small dams to be well below capacity and I would have expected those two larger waterbodies to be fulfilling a refuge role.  Such puzzles are one of the things that make birding interesting.

Also seasonal has been the appearance of White-throated Needletails (aka 'Swifts') generally travelling on the front of storms.  Some of the local sightings have been part of a very low number of obserations reported to the guy who coordinates records of such sightings.

Thanks to observers on the Hoskinstown Plain and Village, Widgiewa Rd and Wanna-wanna Rd.

Three species, shown in red below, were observed undertaking breeding related activities during the month.  The Dusky Moorhen and Buff-rumped Thornbill had dependent young (probably both second broods) while the Satin Bowerbird was active at its bower, getting ready for next season.

1  Waterbirds:  Musk Duck; Australian Wood Duck;  Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Australasian Grebe; Hoary-headed Grebe; Darter; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant;  White‑necked Heron; Great Egret: White‑faced Heron; Nankeen Night Heron; Australian White Ibis;  Purple Swamphen; Dusky Moorhen; EurasianCoot; Black‑fronted Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing.

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk; Spotted Harrier; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel;Brown Falcon; Peregrine 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: Stubble Quail; Brown quail; Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Australian Owlet-nightjar; White-throated Needletail;  Common Koel; Southern Boobook; Laughing Kookaburra;  Rainbow Bee‑eater; 

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

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Golden Whistler;Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush;  Grey Fantail; WillieWagtail;  Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin; Flame Robin;  Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow;Fairy Martin; Tree Martin

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

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Varied Sitella; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Masked Woodswallow; Dusky Woodswallow; 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

I have put up a couple of extra posts this month, summarising the Tawny Frogmouth experience and reporting on a number of flocks of small birds which turned up yesterday.

The Tawny Frogmouth situation for 2012

I didn't write up a formal (ie published by COG) report on the behaviour of the pair of Tawny Frogmouths which reside at our place last year.  That was mainly because there was no "stunning" new observation to include.  However I thought it worthwhile putting together a few words for this blog.

I think this image, showing one of the two chicks stretching its wing prior to flight, was the most interesting one I took this year.  (I hesitate to use the word best for an image with such dodgy exposure.)

The 'big picture' was of another successful year with 2 chicks raised to maturity.

The most puzzlesome aspect of the year was my reduced ability to locate the birds.  The situation for the male bird is shown in this table image comparing 2012 and 2011.

This is the equivalent image for the female.

While both birds were harder to find in May and June the female was also MIA for several days while the male was brooding.  I undertook quite a solid, but unsuccessful, search for the birds, including - with their permission - a foray into a neighbour's property.    This is annoying but ultimately, as long as the birds are OK, not a major issue.

By the end of 2012 I had found one or both birds in 25 roosts since I started this project.  2 of those - both towards or in aforementioned neighbour's property - were new for 2012 and 10 of the previous sites were not used by the birds on any day that I found them.  I site - very close to the original nest tree, but some 50m from the current nest was used by the female on 15 occasions during the brooding period.

The most interesting aspect of behaviour related to the "fledging" period.  I have put that word in quotes since I cannot get a clear definition of what it means.  There seem to be two interpretations:

• When the chicks first leave the nest; and
• When the chicks first fly.

Some people have claimed that these periods are identical.  That may be the case for many species but - this year more than in the the past - it was not the case for this family.  For a full week the chicks would leave the nest during the morning and together with the adult male shuffle some 5m along the large branch on which it was located.  All three then sat there, behaving as they would in the nest until about 4pm.  At that point they slowly shuffled back to the nest.  I checked with a spotlight during the night a few times and the chicks were in the nest at least until 10pm.

Migrants: theory and practice

When setting up my database to record the birds of Carwoola I included a field 'Migrant' in which a tick meant the bird was so described in the Annual Bird reports of the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG).  38 species are identified as migrants.

The catalyst for this post was a desire to indicate to observers in Carwoola (and anyone else who is interested) which species were likely to arrive/depart in the "change-over seasons".  My method of operating was to record the number of years in which a species has been reported for each month.  Rather than there being a simple binary (Present/Absent) condition I found there were 4 patterns evident as described below.

1  Traditional migrant
These are species which are present in Summer but absent in Winter.  This pattern is exemplified by the Leaden Flycatcher.

I have categorised 20 species in this group.   It includes 4 species - I will term them partial migrants -in which an occasional Winter sighting has been made, as exemplified by the Tree Martin.

 The set of species are ('partial migrants' are in red) :

White-throated Needletail; Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo; Shining Bronze-cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan-tailed Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo; Sacred Kingfisher;  Dollarbird; Western Gerygone; White-throated Gerygone; Noisy Friarbird; White-winged Triller; Rufous Whistler; Olive-backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Leaden Flycatcher; Australian Reed-warbler; Rufous songlark; Fairy Martin; Tree Martin.

2 Reverse Migrant

Two species arrive in this area in Autumn and depart in Spring/Summer.  This is exemplified by the Australian Shelduck

The other species is the White-naped Honeyeater.  In both cases they depart to breed in the higher Ranges to the West of Canberra (although I have seen fluff-ball Shelduck in this area).

3 'Not-really' migrants

This group are 6 species which COG categorise as 'migrants, but which are observed in this area more or less evenly through the year.  The pattern is exemplified by Grey Fantail.

The full set are:

Collared Sparrowhawk; Australian Hobby; Spotted pardalote; Striated pardalote; Yellow-faced honeyeater; Grey fantail

The two raptors are not commonly recorded here, but the number of reports is 'flat(ish) through the year.

4 Less common species.

In the Carwoola area this group of 10 species are more notable for their rarity than their seasonal pattern and are included here for the sake of completeness, rather than any commentary on their migration pattern. 

Fork-tailed swift; Eastern Koel; Channel-billed Cuckoo; Black-eared Cuckoo; Rainbow Bee-eater; Masked Woodswallow; White-browed woodswallow; Rufous Fantail;Satin Flycatcher; Brown Songlark

February 2013

The month has been a bit more 'normal' after the excitements of the previous month.  Of course, 18 months ago it would have been really exciting to report Banded Lapwing, Glossy Ibis and Spotted Harrier.  These days it is just very enjoyable to have such diversity in our small area.  The most unusual sightings of the month were:

• Two records of Black Falcon (from the Plain and close to Taliesin); and
• Another record of Nankeen Night-Heron - in this case two birds at a billabong on Wanna Wanna Rd - seems to reflect a general increase in this species in the Canberra area

A first sign of the change of season has been a marked decline in reports of breeding birds.  Only two such records have been received, both of dependent Young.  The first was very pleasing: Diamond Firetail which are far from common generally but are quite often reported in this area.  The other species reported as breeding was Dusky Woodswallow.

The Dusky Woodswallows also showed another sign of Autumn creeping up on us with a flock of about 20 birds nestling together on a dead tree on Whiskers Creek Rd.  Also in larger numbers than seen in Summer were Pied Currawongs making their usual raucous noises.  The final report of larger flocks comes from Wanna Wanna Rd which was rated as "Gang-gang Central".

A few White-throated Needletails have been seen around the storms  late in the month.  This species is studied Australia and any reports of them would be welcome.  Indeed all comments and observations welcome: my address is martinflab <at> gmail <dot> com.

Thanks to all who have reported information to me with observations coming in from Wanna Wanna Rd, Radcliffe, Widgiewa Rd, the Molonglo Valley, Hoskinstown Plain and Hoskinstown Village. 

In total for the month we recorded 112 species  This was 13 less more than the astonishing number of species recorded in January 2013 but 16 species more than February 2012.  

Most of the migrant species (in Italics below) are still around, although cuckoos have been thin on the trees, as are the invertebrates they feed on.  However with dropping temperatures the food will diminish and the migrants will head off.  I have done a post about that.  Species which are likely to disappear in March seem to be: Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo; Shining Bronze-Cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Western Gerygone; Rufous Songlark and Fairy Martin.

1  Waterbirds:   Black Swan;  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck;  Grey Teal; Chestnut Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead;Australasian Grebe;  Darter; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant;  White‑necked Heron; Great Egret: White‑faced Heron; Nankeen Night Heron; Glossy Ibis; Australian White Ibis;  Purple Swamphen;  EurasianCoot;  Black‑fronted Dotterel; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing; 

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk; Spotted Harrier; Swamp Harrier; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel;Brown Falcon; Australian Hobby; Black Falcon, Peregrine Falcon.

3 Parrots and Relatives:  Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo;Gang‑gang Cockatoo; Galah;  Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped parrot
 

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Stubble Quail; Brown quail; Rock Dove; ;Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Australian Owlet-nightjar; White-throated Needletail; Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Southern Boobook; Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher

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

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

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species:  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren;  Speckled warbler; Weebill; Western Gerygone; White-throated Gerygone; Striated Thornbill; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill; Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Southern Whiteface; 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; Brown Songlark; 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

Eagle-eyed readers will note that Dollarbird doesn't appear in the list.  I thought I heard some calling near Stoney Creek Nature Reserve a few days ago.  Strangely the call appeared to be coming from low down.  Getting a better view I found ....

Presumably exploring from a nearby house.  Hopefully they won't go feral.