Hi, Went to Tolderol Game Reserve ( 60km south of Adelaide in SA) yesterday
(Sat) with two others and found some population changes have followed the
recent heavy rains.For a game reserve usually populated by thousands of
ducks, in the best part of five hours we only found two - Pacific Blacks -
no Grey or Chestnut Teal, no Hardheads, no Shelduck, no Shovelers, and
strangest of all not one Grebe of any sort. Added to this there were very
few Cormorants, except a few each of Little Pied, Pied, Little Black, and
Great.
Similarly with the Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Three weeks ago there were
thousands present, yesterday we found five ( OK, it's about time they
started to move). There were a few White Ibis around, but only one
Yellow-billed Spoonbill - whereas there are usually at least half a dozen
each of both these and Royals, often more.
On the other hand some three or four Lewin's Rails were about, together
with some Spotless Crakes. There were at least a dozen Wood Sandpipers and
a similar number of White-winged Black Terns. The rails have not been seen
there for some four years, but they were well out of cover chasing around
across the levee banks.
The weather was a pleasant 25 degrees, no cloud, very light breeze. Full
list of some 51 species as below recorded( and atlassed).
Black Swan - ca 200
Cape Barren Goose - 3
Pacific Black Duck - 2
Little Pied Cormorant - 3
Pied Cormorant - 1
Little Black Cormorant - 6
Great Cormorant - 2
Australian Pelican - ca 30
White-faced Heron - ca 20
White Ibis - ca 10
Yellow-billed Spoonbill - 1
Black-shouldered Kite - 1
Whistling Kite - 1
Swamp Harrier - 2
Aust Hobby - 1
Kestrel - 1
Purple Swamphen - dozens leaping up and flying all around the place
Dusky Moorhen - 1
Lewin's Rail - 4
Spotless Crake - 2
Common Greenshank - not so common, only about six
Red-necked Stint - lots
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - 5 , one in near breeding plumage
Curlew Sandpiper - ca 50 , some in quite dark breeding plumage
Black-winged Stilt - ca 10 ( more often there are hundreds of these)
Pacific Golden Plover - 2
Double Banded Plover - ca 20
Wood Sandpiper - 12
White-winged Black Tern - 12 , some starting to colour up
Masked Lapwing - dozens
Silver Gull - 3
Caspian Tern - ca 50, lots of them juveniles with pale beaks and brownish
backs
Crested Tern - ca 50, some of these were young too
Whiskered Tern - ca 20
Crested Pigeon - 3
Purple-crowned Lorikeet - 1 ( not usually seen here)
Superb Fairy-wren - 3
Singing Honeyeater - 2
White-fronted Chat - dozens
Magpie Lark - ca 10
Willie Wagtail - 3
Aust Magpie - 2
House Sparrow - ca 10
Welcome Swallow - 100's ( many roosting)
Tree Martin - 100's
Clamorous Reed-Warbler - 1
Little Grassbird - many of these were SEEN flitting about outside reedbeds.
Golden-headed Cisticola - ca 6
Silvereye - 1 ( very low figure for this area, usually see them in flocks)
Common Starling - several flocks of ca 100.
Tony Russell.
Tony Russell,
Adelaide, South Australia
phone : 08 8337 5959 , o/s 61 8 8337 5959
e-mail:
There's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing a new bird is there?
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