birding-aus

Yellow-tailed Thornbills

To: "Ralph REID" <>
Subject: Yellow-tailed Thornbills
From: Andy Burton's Bush Tours <>
Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 19:57:06 -0800

Can anyone tell me if they see these on a regular basis inside the greater
Sydney area? Are they migratory?

Regards

Ralph Reid
Sydney

Hi Ralph,

Have just checked my records (30000+) for the County of Cumberland (greater Sydney) for the past six years. Most of my birding in this area is in its north.
Found 46 observations of Yellow-rumped Thornbills 22 of which were in 1994 (don't think this is significant).

I believe the local birds to be sedentary and my observations were in all months except May.

It appears that the further west one travels the more common they become. In the Windsor area, for instance, they can be seen quite readily and most of my observations are from the western half of Sydney.

Closer to the city centre they are rare although in the 50s they could be found eg. at the primary school on the Pacific Highway in North Sydney, only a short walk from the Harbour Bridge (Ern Hoskin pers. comm.) They are now long gone.

They can probably still be found at the following places in the east of the region.

Centennial Park 33° 54.0´  151° 14.0´ - still resident in small numbers

Hitchcock Park, Barrenjoey Rd, Whale Beach.ie sports ovals bordering Careel Bay and Careel Creek.

Lake Park Rd., North Narrabeen; playing fields bordering Narrabeen Lakes

Bicentennial Park, Homebush Bay

Boat Harbour and Metromix Swamp at Kurnell in the south.

There is possibly a small population remaining at Macquarie Univerity. They were there until relatively recently and there is still appropriate habitat.

There are bound to be other sites but these birds can no longer be considered common in the eastern half of suburban Sydney. With the huge amount of development underway in north-western Sydney the future for this and other species does not look bright in the region.

Hope this is of interest,

regards, Andy Burton
--
Andy Burton's Bush Tours

21 Karabil Cr
Baulkham Hills
NSW 2153
Australia

Phone: 61 2 9686 4610

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