Hi all,
Living close to their normal range I can't help much with records of
White-Fronted Honeyeaters in distant places, but I know that they are highly
mobile as I've had 4 or 5 pass through my garden which is just a small patch
of "scrub" in the middle of agricultural land ( that's many more sightings
of White-fronts than of many other commoner Honeyeaters found in nearby
bushland areas)..
But I thought it relevant to relate my birding experiences yesterday when I
spent the morning looking for Swift Parrots in the Moliagul/Wehla/Kingower
area of central Vic, before giving up and heading north to the mallee of
Wychitella.
Basically there were no nectivorous birds present. I visited a few spots
where Swifties are regular, and Honeyeaters and Lorikeets usually abound
especially this time of year, and nothing. I found a flock of
Brown-headed, a few Noisy Miners and that was it.
Not a single Fuscous, Black-chinned,Yellow-tufted, Red Wattlebird,
Lorikeet, nothing !!! It was quite bizarre. There were however mixed
flocks of smaller birds such as Thornbills and Robins etc which had moved in
to places I've never seen them, presumably because of the lack of
competition. It helps to explain the various reports on Birdline Victoria
of unusual numbers of honeyeaters in other parts of the state ( come to
think of it there has been a White-fronted present at Newport lakes which is
out of range).
The area has received good rains over the last 4 months or so, and things
are really responding but the trees are having a big rest and some time-out
from flowering !.
By the days end I had found a few more honeyeaters, in the mallee and around
the rocky hills. Flame heath is flowering well up at Wychitella and
attracting small numbers of Yellow-tufted, Tawny-crowned and White-fronted
Honeyeaters, plus an Eastern Spinebill. And I heard/saw plenty of Southern
Scrub-robins, so they seem to have come through the dry pretty well.
Cheers,
Simon Starr.
Pyramid Hill,
Northern Victoria.
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