December 2015

Well, it has all been happening.  My report for the hard-copy Gazette included the following:

 ... a PacificKoel was around the Plain for several days, an Australian Owlet‑nightjar called recently on Whiskers Creek Rd  and my final bird for 2015 was a Satin Flycatcher in our garden!  Also of note 2 Latham’s Snipe flushed from a dam near Captains Flat Rd and a Rufous Fantail reported from Wanna Wanna Rd.

In addition a moderate sized flock of Little Corellas was at the intersection of Widgiewa and Captains Flat Rds for a few days.  This continues the more regular appearance of this species in the area as shown in this report..

As well as these less usual birds there have been some large flocks around.  An observer from The Plain sent an email including:

As well as the large flocks of Galah’s ( 300+) I have had I reckon close to 400 cockatoos as well as up to 60 Wood Ducks, 50 Magpies , 75 -100 little ravens mainly chasing the oats seed in the paddock ......

Overall we observed 111 species for the month.  This is a small drop from the 115 in November 2015 but 8 more than for December 2014.

After a few very quiet months for raptors the numbers of species seen in this group has picked up again.  

In terms of MIAs, 

• our pair of Tawny Frogmouths have disappeared once the chicks fledged, which I suspect is due to harassment from Pied Currawongs; and
• the Banded Lapwings of Hoskinstown have vanished as the grass grew.  Not only would that make them hard to see, but many species don't like tall grass as it conceals lurking predators.

Not all the sightings were good.  Quoting again from my Gazette report:

There was a sad end to month when I saw a flock of approximately 12 Common Mynas heading towards the Community Hall.  If someone who lives near there would like to operate a trap I can put them in touch with the relevant people.  It would be a pity if this vermin settled in the area.

11 species have been observed breeding in the area, and as would be expected most of those are dependent young observations.  One exception was calling between male and female Pallid Cuckoos, suggesting bad news for thornbills!  The species concerned are marked 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, Radcliffe Circuit, Hoskinstown Plain and Village, Captains Flat Rd and Molonglo Valley. 

I have also compiled a report covering the whole of 2015 including comparisons with earlier years.  As has been my standard practice it is in 4 parts, starting here.

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

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; Darter; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; Great Cormorant; White‑necked Heron;Eastern Great Egret: White‑faced Heron; Australian White Ibis; Dusky Moorhen;  Eurasian  Coot; Masked Lapwing; Latham’s Snipe 

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;  Little Corella; 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; Australian Owlet-nightjar; Common Koel; 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; White‑plumed Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; New Holland Honeyeater; Brown‑headed Honeyeater; Noisy Friarbird;

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Rufous Fantail; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Leaden Flycatcher; Satin 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; 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; 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

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

Cattle Egrets at Mills Cross

Going with a friend for a morning's birding in the Bungendore area we drove along the road from Hoskinstown.  (No luck with Banded Lapwings.)  As we passed the entrance to Mills Cross we spotted a Cattle Egret, still with optimism about breeding.

There were several:  

They eventually spooked at which point we counted 9.  You can count 9 as well!

They didn't want to leave their bovine mates so came back.

October 2015

October 2015

The most excitement this month a Banded Lapwing chick being seen on the Hoskinstown site.  It was only seen on one occasion.  The number of birds of the species has varied somewhat over the month with 12 being seen mid-month but only 6th when I swung by on the 31st.  I suspect this means the birds were simply out of site- too far away from the road; hunkered down behind one of the many lumps of bulls**t, or below the rim of a dam in the main paddock. 

The swamp on the Hoskinstown Plain still has some moisture, with Black-winged Stilts, up to 5 White-necked Herons and 2 Royal Spoonbills being seen at various times.

Other less common birds have been a Red-capped Robin spotted on Whiskers Creek Rd  and a Superb Lyrebird seen off Wanna Wanna Rd.  The least common bird heard was an Australian Owlet–nightjar which woke me at 4am one morning.  

Overall we recorded 108 species in the area in the month, which is 8 more than September 2015 and 6 more than October 2014.

With the exception of January we have - like the children of Lake Woebegone MN - been above average.every month this year.

The expected migrants have pretty much arrived on or before schedule.  There are still a few species to get here.

While there is much more pink than blue in that graphic the determination of 'expected first month'  is a tad speculative.  However I think it safe to say that the migrants were not late this year!  

Breeding is happening all over with those species marked in red in the list below.  On the 31st I scored three waterbird species: Black Swan, Eurasian Coot and Pacific Black Duck.  WRT to timing matters seem more or less on schedule, with perhaps a tendency towards early rather than late.  It is difficult to include all breeding species in a graphic so this image just includes the more common species.

As always thanks to the observers who have provided reports to me for the month.  These have covered sites in 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; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead; Australasian Grebe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant; White‑necked Heron;  White‑faced Heron; Straw-necked Ibis; Royal Spoonbill; Eurasian  Coot; Black-winged Stilt; Masked Lapwing; Banded Lapwing

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite;  Wedge-tailed Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon; Australian Hobby; 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 (Pt 1) (Pt 2) (Pt 3):Stubble Quail; Rock Dove; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth; Australian Owlet-nightjar; Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Brush Cuckoo;Laughing Kookaburra; Sacred Kingfisher; Dollarbird; Superb lyrebird

5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; New Holland Honeyeater; White-fronted Chat; 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; Red‑capped Robin, Flame 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; Speckled warbler; Weebill; Western Gerygone; 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 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

September 2015

After the dramatics of August, September has seemed a bit quiet as we haven't added any new species to the list.  The most excitement was from the swamp on the Hoskinstown Plain which following very good rain over Winter was a sheet of water again.  (Following the lowest September rain I have recorded it was drying out rapidly).  This added Black-winged Stilt to the list and provided a safe(ish) haven for a brood of 14 Shelducklings.  Another less common sighting was two Purple Swamphens on the billabong in Molonglo River Park.

The Banded Lapwings are still on the Eastern extent of the Plain but no-one has actually seen chicks yet so we don't know if the presumed breeding has happened.  Masked Lapwings had 4 runners on a property on the Plain early in the month.

Overall we recorded 99 species in the area in the month, which is 5 more than Ausgust 2015 and 9 more than September 2014.

The expected migrants have pretty much arrived on or before schedule.  There are still a few species to get here.

Breeding is happening all over with those species marked in red in the list below.  Getting two nests for White-faced Heron (Bowen Place and Pollock Rd is very good).   WRT to timing matters seem more or less on schedule, with perhaps a tendency towards early rather than late.

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

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

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

2 Birds of Prey:  Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Goshawk; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; 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 (Pt 1) (Pt 2) (Pt 3):  Rock Dove; 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; Fuscous Honeyeater; White‑plumed Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; New Holland Honeyeater; White-fronted Chat; Brown‑headed Honeyeater; White-naped Honeyeater; Noisy Friarbird; Painted Honeyeater

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Magpie-lark; Scarlet Robin;  Flame 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;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; Varied Sitella; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Olive‑backed Oriole; Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Golden-headed Cisticola; Australian Reed-warbler; 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