Did anyone else go looking for Swift Parrots or Regent Honeyeaters on
the designated survey weekend (the one just gone)? .. and if so, how
did you fare?
Three of us went to forests between Clunes and Maryborough in central
Victoria, and we only saw two Swift Parrots (or one twice); Regent
Honeyeaters are effectively locally extinct in that area now.
Of interest, virtually no eucalypts were flowering in any significant
amounts, maybe due to the drought. Red Ironbark (E. tricarpa) normally
flowers abundantly in May & is a bird magnet. None even looked like
flowering. Only one Yellow Gum (E. leucoxylon) was seen flowering. The
main effort was the tail end of a patchy flowering of Long-leaved Box
(E. goniocalyx). Also of interest is that both Red Ironbark and Yellow
Gum are flowering further south around Geelong, where it has also been
very dry.
Recently I've seen 7 Swift Parrots flying over my home in Geelong, and
possibly 2-3 at the You Yangs.
Lawrie Conole
2/45 Virginia Street
Newtown 3220 Victoria
AUSTRALIA
Email <>
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