birding-aus

White-fronted Honeyeater, still at my house

To: "Birding-aus \(E-mail\)" <>
Subject: White-fronted Honeyeater, still at my house
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:10:17 +1000
I've reported on it several times, already, but it is still notable.....

On 21 June a White-fronted Honeyeater was found at Jerrabomberra wetlands in 
the ACT. This is a place that has one or other of the local birders visiting 
probably every day and probably the most likely spot where any rare bird that 
lobs in the ACT is likely to be noticed. Many people went out to see it, mostly 
briefly (not all successfully) and it was last found on 22 June. This has 
already been written up in Canberra Bird Notes (by Steve Holliday who found it.)

Amazingly one White-fronted Honeyeater arrived in my Kambah (southern Canberra) 
garden on Thursday 5 July. It has now been seen by me in my garden every day 
(except for 27 August) since then. Also about 55 people so far have come to see 
the bird and it has been extensively filmed and photographed by me and others. 
The bird has become so regular in its habits that there has so far been a 100% 
success rate as in everyone who has been here as seen it and mostly with a wait 
of less than five minutes. Although during the warmer weather of the last week 
it has been a bit harder to find. Its main food source is a Grevillea 
rosmarinifolia bush, that is defends from Eastern Spinebills and Silvereyes. 
The warmer weather has resulted in more bees on its favourite bush and so the 
bird is spending more time elsewhere, until the late afternoon when the area is 
shaded and the bees mostly go away. This morning was cool and the bird was back.

A second record in the ACT has occurred within two weeks of the first. Of all 
possible places, it appears in my garden. This would have to be the easiest 
"twitch" of my birding lifetime.

The question arises: is it the same bird? We don't know, but my house is about 
20 km from Jerrabomberra wetlands.

Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
KAMBAH   ACT  2902

Phone. 02 - 62314041
(M) 0411 716177
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
=============================
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • White-fronted Honeyeater, still at my house, Philip Veerman <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU