G'day all
The main environmental factor down this way of late is the weather. Since the
beginning of November we have had well below average rainfall and most lakes,
swamps and streams are rapidly drying up if not already dry. With this lack of
rain has come a very hot summer with many days in the high 30 degrees. The bush
is extremely dry and birds are quiet and hard to find.
We have had Magpie-larks and Kookaburras on our bird baths of late and Grey
Fantails play under the sprinkler.
Musk and Purple-crowned Lorikeets visited next door's ironbark and screeched
incessantly from dawn to dusk.
The Yellow-tailed BlackCockatoos are back in the vicinity of Hamilton. They
visit most summer-autumns and then return back to the Grampians (I think) to
breed. Similarly, huge flocks of Long-billed Corellas also seem to congregate
around Hamilton at this time of the year. Normally they are quite grubby but
they must have moulted recently because the flock hanging around the research
institute at the moment are pristine white.
In December I was regularly counting 25-30 species on my half hour ride to work
in the mornings. Recently I've probably averaged 15. I think I've mentioned
this before but it is quite obvious that many birds stop calling/displaying at
the time of the summer solstice (22/23 December). Stubble Quail, Reed-warblers,
Cisticolas, Songlarks, Fieldwrens, Skylarks and Pipits were heard or seen most
mornings before that date but hardly at all since.
Flock of Swallows and Tree Martins have been building up lately.
I purchased a 1:100,000 topographic map of the district recently. It covers
most of the Grampians and the coast from Port Campbell to the SA border. All
the national and state parks and other reserves and most roads are marked. I've
been visiting some of the places on the map that I've never been to before and
some are great birding areas. On Sunday I went into an area of state forest
between Cavendish and Rocklands Reservoir. It is to the west of the Grampians
and east of the Claude Austin reserve which some of you might know. This forest
contains white gum, stringybark and sheoak woodland and apparently has the
longest unburnt history of any local forest. Every tree seemed to have hollows
and a good range of birds were about. The highlight was a pair of Speckled
Warblers. These seem to be disappearing from the Grampians forests and are
always nice to see. Weebills, mistletoebirds and Choughs were also good to see.
I'll certainly revisit this forest many times in the future. It looks like good
Hooded Robin country - another bird that has largely disappeared from the area.
What is going on in your district?
Cheers
Steve
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Steve Clark
Hamilton, Victoria, 3300
www.ansonic.com.au/clarks/sw_birds.htm
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