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Treecreeper in Tas - recollection

To: "Graeme Greenwood" <>
Subject: Treecreeper in Tas - recollection
From: John Tongue <>
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2012 17:39:50 +1100
Hi Graeme et. al.,

Treecreepers VERY rare in Tas.  I know of two reports of White-throated 
Treecreeper - see James Melville's "Birding in Tasmania" site 
(www.birdingintas.net).

If you see any more, it would be a very interesting report.

Cheers,
John Tongue
Ulverstone, Tas.


On 07/10/2012, at 4:33 PM, Graeme Greenwood wrote:

> Hi Folks,
> 
> 
> 
> Recently my wife was casually jotting down a list of birds we have had visit
> our suburban garden over the last 18 years, and "treecreeper" popped up.
> Neither of us thought any more or less of this, we enjoy all the birds and
> are quite excited when something new appears, bird or otherwise - stick
> insects, praying mantises, mole crickets all get big smiles!
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, I was asked the other day whether little wattlebirds just ate
> nectar, I thought they'd be a bit less choosy but wasn't sure so checked. As
> I had the guide open I thought I'd check to see which treecreeper we were
> likely to have seen based on Tassie's limited share of most groups and was
> surprised to find that none are officially recorded, hence my search and
> your notes from 2007 coming up.
> 
> 
> 
> The first occasion was reasonably memorable; my wife saw an unfamiliar bird
> on the trunk of the liquidambar, which grew only c.1.5 metres from our
> living room window, and called me over to look and offer an identification.
> I said straight away it was a treecreeper, and we watched it nimbly forage
> amongst the gnarled trunks bark furrows for a while. I didn't follow up as
> far as any further species identification, but from memory it was a slender
> house sparrow size greyish brown and possibly some darker longitudinal
> flecks in the upper plumage. This would have been between late 1990's to
> 2002. We didn't take a photo - pre the convenience of digital cameras. I
> have a zoological background and have been a reasonably keen naturalist most
> of my life; had the known distribution of any of the treecreepers included
> Tasmania, even as sporadic vagrants, I'd happily claim certainty that it was
> a treecreeper, but given what I have learned today, would drop that back to
> 80% - nothing else springs remotely to mind. I just asked my wife how many
> times she reckoned we / she'd seen them, her answer was, "oh, not many, a
> couple maybe?" We'll certainly keep an extra alert should we see one again
> and of course try for a photo. Unfortunately we had to remove the
> liquidambar in April this year - it was planted far too close to the house
> and was beginning to cause structural concerns, as well as shading the
> recently installed solar panels in the afternoon, the remaining silver
> birches are probably not as likely to attract, but we'll watch anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> Last year we had a resident pallid cuckoo for the first time, and have heard
> one in the neighbourhood again this spring. That seemed far more unusual at
> the time!
> 
> 
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> 
> 
> Graeme Greenwood
> 
> 5 Erina St
> 
> East Launceston TAS
> 
> Ph (03) 6334 5620
> 
> Mob 0439 760 169
> 
> Fax (03) 6312 5005
> 
> Skype graeme.greenwood5
> 
>  
> 
> www.mapmakers.com.au <http://www.mapmakers.com.au/> 
> 
> <http://www.mapmakers.com.au/> 
> 
> 
> 
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