Red Wattlebirds

[Andrew Taylor <>]

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 08:35:07AM +1100, Frank Hemmings wrote:
> Yesterday I walked through Centennial Park (eastern suburbs, Sydney)
> and there were large numbers of Red Wattlebirds present.  There are
> small numbers of reseident birds but these are augmented at times
> by other birds as part of migration &/or locally nomadic movements.

I've been listening for wattlebirds on my last couple of morning runs
in the inner west and while there are some - numbers do seem down on
previous years.

If there is a change, rainfall might be an explanation. The coast around
Sydney has had less rain than average over the last 3 months but falls
not far inland are average or above average:
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/rain_maps.cgi?map=contours&variable=anomaly&area=nsw&period=3month&region=nsw&time=latest

Inner west corellas appeared in the Herald this morning, as they have
in previous years about now:
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/highwire-act-as-birds-battle-for-a-place-in-the-sun-20090225-8hzz.html

Andrew