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A big honeyeater migration

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Subject: A big honeyeater migration
From: Carol Probets <>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:56:56 +1000
Hi Birders,

It's a while since I've posted here, but just wanted to share the news about this year's honeyeater migration in the Blue Mountains. As many of you know, each year we see thousands of Yellow-faced and White-naped Honeyeaters pass through, with a few other species, on their way north in autumn. There's a huge variation in numbers, not only from one day to another but from one year to another, and this year is proving to be a big one!
Since autumn 2011, we've had members of Blue Mountains Bird Observers 
counting at key sites on many mornings throughout the season. Because 
of the huge variability (some mornings there are virtually no birds 
moving, and on other mornings the numbers can be phenomenal) we aim 
to carry out counts on as many days as possible in the 6-week period 
(early April to mid-May). We have 5 counting sites across the 
mountains and counts are 20 minutes duration - counting all species 
of migrating birds as they pass a single point.
So far this season, two of the counts have given us amazing results. 
On 10th April, 2985 birds were counted in the 20-minutes crossing 
Shipley Road. This is our highest result since the project started, 
and almost equal to the highest rate ever recorded for the honeyeater 
migration. Then on 13th April, the count on Narrow Neck was 2790 
birds. Bear in mind that these figures represent a random 20-minute 
sample at just a single site of what is usually a 3-4 hour period of 
movement through the morning. So the total number of migrating 
Yellow-faced Honeyeaters becomes mind-boggling in a year like this!
If you happen to be in the Blue Mountains on a fine weather morning 
between now and the middle of May, it's really worth checking out the 
migration. There are many sites they can be seen, generally at the 
head of north-leading gullies on the south side of the ridge. But 
there are two exceptional sites to watch them. Shipley Road 
(Blackheath), between Helvetia Rd and Megalong Valley Road is 
generally the site with the greatest number of birds, as they can be 
seen crossing Shipley Rd after flying up the gully from Megalong 
Valley. Almost as many can be seen on Narrow Neck peninsula near 
Katoomba, unless it's a windy day. Here the birds fly low over the 
heath and along the peninsula and can be watched at several points 
along Glenraphael Drive. On some mornings here I've seen up to 11 
species migrating.
The weather is looking favourable for good migration this weekend, 
although you never know for sure!
I'll also mention that I've been posting regular updates of the 
migration on Twitter  If you're interested in keeping 
up to date with the progress of the migration and of our counts - and 
if you're not on Twitter, you can still see my timeline at 
http://www.twitter.com/carolprobets
For more information on the migration see my website: 
http://www.bmbirding.com.au/hemig.html. The counts are carried out by 
Blue Mountains Bird Observers as part of the IBA (Important Bird 
Area) project.
Cheers,

Carol

--
Carol Probets
http://www.bmbirding.com.au
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



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