birding-aus

Raptors along Hume highway

To: "'Geoff Leslie'" <>
Subject: Raptors along Hume highway
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 11:17:53 +1100
Hello Geoff,

I met Peter Disher at some of the BOCA easter and christmas camps. In 1984
easter camp he ran a feather identification quiz for those present which I
won. The prize was a boomerang that he had made. It still sits above my
bedroom door.

In my note below I forgot to mention also several Wedge-tailed Eagles. This
flock of Black Kites were seen on Thursday. I think I only saw one on the
return trip on Monday. That is probably only a random difference, related to
the timing of my passing through. 

Also for what it is worth my obs of the Jaegers at St Kilda Beach was on
Saturday 30 March.

Philip


-----Original Message-----From: 
 On Behalf Of Geoff Leslie
Sent: Wednesday, 3 April 2013 8:45 AM   To: 
Subject: Raptors along Hume highway


I have also noticed a few Black Kites around the Yea area where I have just
moved which surprised me. They have got more frequent in the South of
Victoria over recent years. 
Years ago I moved to Barham and they were a new bird for me. I had a
wonderful old birding mentor named Peter Disher whom many of you would have
probably known. I had just moved to town and took a  trip to the local
rubbish tip where a large flock of Black Kites was circling. I saw Peter
Disher in the newsagent next day and he said, Have you seen the Fork-tails
out at the Barham tip?  I said, Yeah, wow, I reckon there were a hundred! He
seemed surprised and said, Really? I only counted 93! At that point I
realised that real birders take numbers seriously!

Geoff Leslie

---------------

Message: 15
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2013 17:52:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mick Roderick <>
To: Philip Veerman <>,      'Birding Aus'
        <>,    'canberrabirds chatline'
        <>
Subject: Raptors along Hume highway
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

There has been something of an irruption of Black Kites in coastal
catchments?in NSW as well. Birdline seems to be littered with them. ? Here
in the Hunter they are generally scarce and 'report-worthy' when seen but in
the past 2 weeks they have been reported from many sites, some quite coastal
(e.g. Hexham Swamp). The biggest aggregation has been at Maitland Tip, where
50+ birds have been reported in the past week (this has happened there
before though). There also seems to be a perceived increase in Spotted
Harrier and Black Falcon reports, as well as numbers of raptors generally
(often in the vicinity of wetlands). 
?
There have also been a couple of interesting Grey Falcon reports in NSW, one
20km north-west of Moree and the other in the vicinity of Weddin Mountains.
These are not places I would normally have expected Grey Falcons to be. ? A
Letter-winged Kite was also reported at Wanganella (between Deniliquin and
Hay) on the 18th March. With all of these other raptor reports seemingly
increasing, perhaps we'll start seeing more Letter-winged Kite reports as
well? ? Mick
 

________________________________
From: Philip Veerman <>
To: 'Birding Aus' <>; 'canberrabirds chatline'
<> 
Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2013 11:27 AM
Subject: Raptors along Hume highway
  
I did the (easter) trip from Canberra to Melbourne as a passenger of my
neighbour on Thursday and return on Monday. There were no birding stops
(indeed only a short stop) and he was a rather fast driver. Probably more
raptors than I have encountered in recent years (several BsK, Brown Falcons,
Little Eagles, Whistling Kites, Kestrels). Notable was a collection of about
30 Black Kites within about 2 km at about 10 km south of Chiltern. I have
not encountered this species (as in at least 1), more often than I have
encountered them, on many trips over 3 decades but not ever seen so many in
that region before. This bit copied from the Birdline Victoria is
consistent. 

Black Kite Tungamah 
Another large flock of Black Kites (55) seen circling over a stubble fire
east of Tungamah. Four Black Falcons also seen with the kites. 
Michael Ramsey 

Black Kite Dookie 
Black Kites have been lurking around Dookie for the last week but a flock of
46 circling over burning stubble this afternoon is the most I have seen
here. 
Michael Ramsey

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