Hi all,
Last weekend (14-15/8/04), a group of ten birdwatchers, mostly from
the Blue Mountains, carried out this season's first Regent Honeyeater
breeding surveys in the Capertee Valley. The drought of the past
three years has meant that Regents have been very difficult to find
in the Capertee Valley, which is normally their breeding stronghold.
However, news of two Regents seen a week ago by a landowner in the
northern part of the valley had boosted our hopes for this weekend of
surveys.
Overall we surveyed 12 sites and were delighted to find a total of 12
Regent Honeyeaters on 4 sites along the Capertee River. They were all
feeding on nectar from the flowering mistletoe (Amyema cambagei) in
the River Oaks, a vital resource at this time of year. On one site
that I surveyed, a stretch of river on private property, we found 7
birds. The good thing is that most appeared to be defending
territories in pairs, indicating perhaps that they will stay put and
breed this year. I noticed plenty of bud yet to open on the mistletoe.
On another site I watched a very vocal male, vigorously patrolling a
stretch of river about 300 metres long. I wondered whether his mate
might be already sitting on eggs. The previous day, members of our
group had seen two birds at the same location.
Besides the Regents, the valley produced its usual high quality
birding. At my first survey site on private property were 15
Budgerigars (at their usual site) and large numbers of Plum-headed
Finches. Other species seen by members of our group included
Turquoise Parrots, Speckled Warbler, Southern Whiteface, Musk and
Little Lorikeets, Striped Honeyeater, Hooded Robin, Pallid Cuckoo,
Diamond Firetail, Little Eagle, etc. Some sites had flocks of
Yellow-faced and White-naped Honeyeaters migrating through. At
another site, David Geering and another birder were watching a
Stubble Quail at close quarters to see it suddenly snatched from
under their noses by a Brown Goshawk. And no less than 15
Wedge-tailed Eagles were seen spiralling together above a recent
kangaroo cull.
We also undertook some bird surveys in previous tree-planting sites
to monitor their development as bird habitat. Despite some difficult
weather conditions this proved quite heartening in one or two cases.
At one site planted in 1999 along a gully, it was wonderful to see an
emerging woodland of eucalypts, casuarinas, and wattles in glorious
flower ranging from 2 to 10 metres in height. Two of these young
trees contained babbler nests while in a dead snag a male Striated
Pardalote was singing his heart out in the entrance to a hollow,
surrounded by an abundant food supply of lerps in the White Box
saplings. A small group of Musk Lorikeets were feeding in a flowering
mature White Box at the same site.
On Sunday afternoon after our surveys were all finished, I called in
at my land to see what birds were about there. Most obvious were the
Fuscous and Black-chinned Honeyeaters and good numbers of Common
Bronzewings. Crested Shrike-tits were around as usual, and Little
Lorikeets were feeding in a flowering Narrow-leafed Ironbark. There
was no sign of the Spotted Quail-thrush family that had been hanging
around the cabin area throughout autumn and winter. I suspect they've
now gone back up the rocky slope to begin nesting. As I made my way
along a ridge behind the cabin watching the cliffs turning red in the
afternoon light, a party of very noisy White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes
chased each other through the trees.
The valley has received some recent rain, although much, much more is
needed. My dams continue to dry up with the main dam only a few
inches deep at the moment. However the ground throughout the valley
has been moistened nicely for the tree planting this coming weekend.
Cheers
Carol
Carol Probets
Blue Mountains and
part-time Capertee Valley
(Central Tablelands, NSW)
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