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Regent Honeyeaters turn up for tree planting weekend

To: Carol Probets <>
Subject: Regent Honeyeaters turn up for tree planting weekend
From: Ricki Coughlan <>
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:40:36 +1000
Hi Carol and all

I can add a great afternoon's birding on Friday behind Oska's with the highlight there being surrounded by Brown Treecreepers, White- throated Treecreepers and a Red-browed Treecreeper with a number of Varied Sitellas overhead. Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters abounded. Saturday arvo behind Oska's turned up Crested Shrike-tits - just to complete our weekend bark forager roll call. Sunday arvo on Crown Station Road was not too shabby either where, among many others, we also got Turquoise Parrots, plenty of Striped Honeyeaters and Fuscous Honeyeaters in breeding plumage/mode.

Like you, I also got Little Eagles at the survey site I worked over on Sunday morning (behind Glen Alice School). A little earlier we also had fantastic views of Diamond Firetails carrying nesting material.

I left the valley around 4:00pm on Sunday and whilst driving down a long slope, caught sight of a Square-tailed Kite being pursued by two ravens. I stopped the car for a better view and the birds passed within metres of me several times, affording the best views of this kite species that I've ever had.

Thanks to yourself and everyone who organised yet another fantastic opportunity to do good things for the environment and a great Saturday night nosh-up.

Ricki Coughlan
Sydney

http://www.redtail.net.au




On 21/08/2007, at 4:17 PM, Carol Probets wrote:

Last weekend about 80 volunteers descended on the Capertee Valley NSW for another tree planting weekend. This time we worked on two properties on Port Macquarie Road, in beautiful soft soil made damp by recent rain. On Monday morning the owner of one of the properties recorded another 46mm in his rain gauge, so all those trees will be off to a good start!

As always, there were numerous bird highlights. For me the good birds started while I was having breakfast on the verandah of my cabin, with 3 Turquoise Parrots dropping by.

The stream of planters arriving at the first site on Saturday morning didn't deter a pair of Red-rumped Parrots from visiting a hollow fence post at the car parking area. Also here, a Pallid Cuckoo was calling persistently and an all-too-brief session of song from a Pied Butcherbird filled the air. Nectarivore numbers are low this year but a small flock of Musk Lorikeets moved through at one stage.

Those laying out the plants on Friday were rewarded with the sight of a Square-tailed Kite flying over the first planting site. On Saturday morning it made another appearance. Later in the morning a Peregrine Falcon also flashed by.

At the second planting site I heard Turquoise Parrots in the adjoining woodland while having lunch. (This site is very close to an area where Gilbert's Whistler has been seen in the past.) The owner of this property was very excited to have seen a Regent Honeyeater on his verandah a week earlier. It must have known what was planned! These plantings will be a fabulous extension of habitat for Regents and other species in this very interesting part of the valley.

All 2000 trees were in the ground and watered by Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, several people participated in Regent Honeyeater surveys at various sites around the valley. As far as I know, only one site produced Regents with 18 counted there. They appear to have just moved into the valley in the last week, after several months with no records. During the coming weeks more should arrive and hopefully be setting up territories where there is flowering Needle-leaf Mistletoe.

I surveyed a site on private property where the highlights were a pair of White-backed Swallows swooping low over the grassland, a pair of Little Eagles and very close-up views of three fence- sitting Singing Bushlarks.

The next tree planting weekend will be held on 3-4 May 2008.

Cheers,

Carol



--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carol Probets
Guided birding in the Blue Mountains & Capertee Valley
PO Box 330
Katoomba NSW 2780
Web: http://www.bmbirding.com.au
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



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