Thanks Craig for a great report. Hope we get these over the next few years and
the news is positive.
The one species that you didn't mention that I am interested in (given this us
the only place I have seen them) is little shearwater. Any indication of
population trends on this one - I assume that manly breed on Phillip Island so
probably OK but would be interested in any comments.
Cheers,
Peter
> From:
> To:
> Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 02:27:27 +0000
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] 2015 on Norfolk Island – the year in birds
> [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
>
> I thought it might be useful to pen a bit of an update on the year’s bird
> watching and bird conservation highlights for our often forgotten little part
> of the world. 2015 was my first full year on Norfolk Island so still plenty
> to see for me and a few rarities turned up throughout the year.
>
> Native bushbirds
> It was another great breeding year for our Green Parrots (on the island the
> Norfolk Island Parakeet and Crimson Rosella are referred to as simply ‘Green
> Parrot’ and ‘Red Parrot’ and I’ll follow that convention here) with more than
> 70 fledged young in the predator proof nesting sites throughout the national
> park. Sightings from outside the park appear to be getting more frequent
> including far away. I live more than 2km away from the park, across farmland
> and regularly get green parrots in my yard. Recently a flock of more than 20
> was seen feeding on peaches in a property close to the park. Hopefully we’ll
> have some firmer population figures soon, but the disastrous 2013 surveys
> which showed only about 45 birds seems a fair while ago now after a couple of
> good breeding years. Red parrots are common over most of the island although
> they are actively removed from the national park where they compete
> aggressively for nesting sites with the green parrots.
>
> For the other native bush birds, anecdotally we are being told there haven’t
> been this many robins in years (note that the Norfolk Robin has just been
> elevated to full species status in the latest IOC nomenclature) and they seem
> to be benefitting from the extra cat and rat control inside the national
> park. I have seen many, many young birds recently along the Summit Track, the
> easiest spot to find them, and they are also enjoying the eucalypt
> plantations where they are one of the more common species. Records outside
> the national park are still very rare, and they appear to be unknown from the
> southern half of the island.
>
> I’m less certain about the status of Slender-billed White-eye with no real
> inkling one way or the other as to which way it is going. They are still to
> be seen in good numbers, sometimes in mixed flocks with the abundant
> Silvereyes, especially along the eastern area of the park, and are in Hundred
> Acres Wood on the south-west corner of the island, though seeming not over
> other parts of the island. Another year has passed without anything
> resembling a good sighting of White-breasted White-eye. It is now about 10
> years since any reasonable sightings of these birds. Despite being listed as
> vulnerable, the local form of the Golden Whistler appears to be in very good
> numbers in the park and in moderate numbers in some other parts of the island
> where there is forest, native or otherwise. The NI Gerygone is common across
> most of the island while the fantail is patchier outside the park, it is
> seemingly secure.
>
> It was a good year for cuckoos with a sighting of a Pallid Cuckoo (admittedly
> right at the end of 2014) and an Oriental Cuckoo. Shining Bronze-cuckoo are
> sparse but present through spring and summer while there were quite a few
> sightings of Long-tailed Cuckoos through October as the migrated. I didn’t
> hear of any sightings in April on the way back. They are probably not
> uncommon but given that they typically don’t call on the island they are
> probably missed. If the Shining Bronze-cuckoos didn’t call, I doubt I would
> have seen a single bird on the island yet. Masked Woodswallows still inhabit
> the island in reasonable numbers with a flock of 26 observed at the airport
> and a single White-browed Woodswallow was observed in December, the first
> seen for quite some time. The two colonised the island at the same time in
> 1996 but neither have flourished, but the Masked appear to have been the more
> successful of the two. Kestrels appear to maintaining their modest numbers
> and I observed a cliff-side nest near Cascade jetty while the kingfisher is
> abundant across the island and the Emerald Dove seems to avoid the feral cats
> reasonably successfully.
>
> Seabirds
> Breeding seasons on Phillip Island and Norfolk Island have been steady for
> Masked Booby and Red-tailed Tropicbird, both seemingly maintaining good
> numbers. The Black Noddies and White Terns get hammered by feral cats in some
> areas but with such large numbers of both, they seem to keep their
> populations steady. The Grey and Brown Noddies seem to be restricted to
> Phillip Island and costal islets where predation is less and they are in
> lower numbers. Despite this, I saw winter flocks of 500+ of the Grey Noddies
> on Green Pool Stone off the northern coast. Black-winged Petrels continue to
> be the most abundant petrel and are commonly seen all over both islands in
> summer. They seemed to have great breeding success on Phillip Island but
> their persistent attempts to re-colonise Norfolk Island are met with failure
> through cat predation. That said, I think it is only a matter of time until
> they do establish on Norfolk. There are similar issues with the main island
> population of Wedge-tailed Shearwater with significant predation and I think
> there probably needs to be a question mark over the future of this population
> on Norfolk as a result. The more rarely seen petrels, Providence, Kermadec
> and White-necked were all observed on Phillip Island this year, and all
> believed to have bred there this year, but beyond that we know little about
> their populations.
>
> The increased regularity of frigatebirds around the island has continued with
> 12 Great Frigatebirds staying for a few months, roosting but not yet nesting,
> on the Moo-oo Stone off the northern coast. They disappeared in winter and
> have returned again this summer, their numbers doubled to a maximum count of
> 24. Up until just a couple of years they were vagrants bought in by storms
> but they are now regular. There are no adult males in the birds seen so far,
> so the dispersal of younger birds could be a factor. Time will tell if they
> establish here properly, where they could potentially provide another
> predator issue? To the best of my knowledge there have been no sightings at
> all this year of Australasian Gannets, that previously bred in small numbers
> (<5 pairs) on Phillip Island.
>
> There are also continued concerns about the Sooty Tern breeding population.
> The 1000+ breeding pairs that used to be on Phillip Island largely up and
> left for the 14/15 breeding season, and only a couple of hundred pairs
> returned in 15/16 year, around Moo-oo Beach, though there were smaller
> numbers in other locations. Most have moved to the northern coast of Norfolk
> Island, especially around Captain Cook’s monument. This is a concern because
> here they have to contend with cats and rats where Phillip Island is predator
> free. Despite this, and clear signs of predation by cats in some areas, at
> least several hundred young were fledged from Norfolk in early 2015, mostly
> around The Cord, near the national park. For the 15/16 breeding season, they
> have spread out a bit more, on both sides of Captain Cook and so far, so
> good. The likely cause of the desertion of Phillip Island was predation by
> Purple Swamphen who’s numbers have increased across that island, though other
> birds they predate upon have remained steady.
>
> Feral birds
> It has been a bumper year for chooks all over the island and their numbers
> are at record highs. This poses great concerns for the invertebrate fauna of
> the island, especially the 5 Critically Endangered land snails that occur on
> the island. Probably not any noticeable difference in other species, though I
> know I certainly saw more European Goldfinches as the year went on, but I
> suspect that was more about them flocking in winter and me getting my eye in.
> A flock of 40-50 Common Redpoll landed on the Summit Track in the national
> park through August and September before dwindling to a few, just as
> discussions were being had over whether they should be eradicated, and then
> disappearing altogether. A Common Chaffinch was also spotted in December, in
> a similar location, feeding with California Quail. I wouldn’t say there had
> been any significant changes in other feral populations on the island, though
> the number of feral ducks would have to be of some concern on the few
> waterways. I have not seen any bird here that I would call a genuine Pacific
> Black Duck.
>
> Waders and other vagrants
> Norfolk get’s relatively few waders outside of Pacific Golden Plover (records
> of over 400 at the airport), Ruddy Turnstone (about 100 at the airport),
> Whimbrel (rarely more than a few) and small numbers of Wandering Tattler
> around the coast. During winter we had about 20 Double-banded Plovers take up
> residence in the southern bays, especially Slaughter Bay. Other recorded
> waders included a flock of 20 or so Red Knots in October, 3 or 4 Bar-tailed
> Godwits in late 2015, a single Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and a snipe, presumably
> Latham’s, seen in October and December at the Kingston Common. The Whimbrels
> and tattler appear to overwinter on the island.
>
> A flock of 3 Oriental Pratincoles was resident at the airport through March
> and April, about the same time as several White-winged Terns were there as
> well. We also had a South Island Pied Oystercatcher at Kingston Common for a
> few weeks in August and September. Oystercatchers seem to turn up every few
> years and while historically several have been put to the Australian species,
> I doubt these have been reliably identified and I imagine most visitors would
> be SIPOs. A single Great Egret has been seen intermittently on the island all
> year while the usual winter flocks of Cattle Egret turned up briefly before
> also moving on. Also in winter were a couple of Swamp Harrier, a normal
> winter visitor to the island, with at least 2 different birds seen over
> several months. A couple of Little Black Cormorants were observed on
> Cathedral Rock early in the year. Overall a good year on Norfolk with more
> good news than bad on the bird front, a pattern that will hopefully continue
> into 2016.
>
>
> Craig Doolan
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