Hi Mick, Allan, Peter, and Keith,
Thanks for the wealth of information on blossoming and seeding in eucalypts.
It is all new to me and most interesting.
Peter, you have picked out musk lorikeets at Warriewood Wetland that have
eluded me, despite my 3 or 4 visits. As an aside, the lone female musk duck
has made a reappearance after 2 months.
Keith, I would be interested to know when you saw swift parrots at
Warriewood. The only Warriewood record that I have is 2002 (from Bruce Cox,
who kept meticulous records from 1987 until 2009). There are only 2 records
of sightings on Eremaea since 2006 for the whole Northern Beaches, and one
of these was followed up and proved to be a misidentification. There have
been one or two sightings in Ku-ring-gai Chase NP, which some people regard
as being part of the Northern Beaches.
Carl Weber
From: Mick Roderick
Sent: Wednesday, 22 May 2013 6:08 PM
To: Allan Richardson; Peter Madvig
Cc: Carl Weber;
Subject: Werakata SCA and NP - where is the Car Park?
Eucalypts are generally unpredictable, but it isn't unusual to have seasons
with little or no blossom in an area. For instance, last year was a big
"Spotted Gum year" that attracted the birds I listed below to the
Cessnock-Kurri forests. At the same time there was virtually nothing
flowering in the Swamp Mahogany dominated forests on the coast (that Al
Richardson talks about below).
Spotted Gums flower on a 2 to 3 year cycle and can actually hold bud for a
long time (maybe up to 2 years?). Apiarists would be good to ask these sorts
of questions. In the Hunter, the last 6 big "Spotted Gum years" appear to
have been 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2012. Not too sure what happened
between 2000 and 2005. In each of these years we had significant numbers of
Regent Honeyeaters and Swift Parrots in the Cessnock-Kurri forests. In other
years (eg 2002) the Swamp Mahogany forests flowered and attracted good
numbers of these birds.
Note that I'm only talking about what has happened in the Hunter here -
despite last year being a big Spotted Gum year on the NSW South Coast it
appears that there is a reasonable amount of blossom down there this year as
well.
Note also that these birds (especially Swifties) love feeding on lerp as
well.
Mick
From: Allan Richardson <>
To: Peter Madvig <>
Cc: Carl Weber <>; 'Mick Roderick'
<>;
Sent: Wednesday, 22 May 2013 4:04 PM
Subject: Werakata SCA and NP - where is the Car Park?
Hi Carl,
Around Morisset I've found individual cohorts of Swamp Mahogany to fire in
different years.
In 2011, the last time we had Regent Honeyeaters here, the blossom was out
in very good densities, but the following season (last year) was dominated
by trees setting seed.
Trees the birds were using in 2011 are out again this year, but there are
some patches in the wider locality that aren't firing at all this season and
aren't carrying any bud.
Locally it looks like a 2 year cycle prevails. However, I think the extent
to which the trees flower depends on how dry the habitat is in a given year.
Allan Richardson
Morisset NSW
On 22/05/2013, at 3:54 PM, Peter Madvig wrote:
> Hi Carl,
>
> There have been days with 'Muskies', Carl, such as Wed 8th. September,
where the CBOC had an outing... They do move about, tho'.
> Cheers
> Peter Madvig
>
>
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