Hi Birders,
Gordon from Schofields (on the north-west outskirts of Sydney) asked two
questions about Koels and Cattle Egrets.
His first comments relate to why is it that the Koels have only just arrived
at Schofields? My views are that Koels don't migrate syncronously, that is
they don't all turn up at the one time, they gradually arrive. The first
Koel was recorded in Sydney at Greenwich on 21/8/06, then at Waverton 16/9
and then Ashbury 19/9 and then in many places. Gradually they filled in the
places in between. However the favoured areas are the suburbs closest to the
coast, particularly on the North Shore where there are many figs, mulberries
and other fruiting trees. The western suburbs are less favoured and I
suspect that in the past they did not extend much into western Sydney, that
is only a recent phenonomen. Certainly they were in most of the Central
Coast coastal suburbs by mid to late September, whereas they only got out to
Dubbo in late October!
As for Cattle Egrets, at this time of the year Cattle Egrets are moving to
their breeding colonies on the North Coast of NSW and in SE Qld. In fact,
breeding is well and truly underway at the Shortland Wetlands near
Newcastle, yet at the Tuggerah Dairy Swamp wetlands, the Cattle Egrtes,
although all coloured up, are still with the cows. The closest breeding
colony to the Central Coast is at Toronto, then Shortlands, so these birds
have yet to move out.
I can only assume that the Cattle Egrets heading north to the breeding
colonies stopped over at Schofileds in the past enroute from southern
Australia up to the breeding colonies, but because it is so dry in western
Sydney, thay have bypassed the area.
Alan Morris
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