On September 4, following Julienne's message from Hoskinstown on Saturday,
I checked out the Upper Shoalhaven route where I had first seen a
concentrated inward migration on Sept. 17 in 2000.
It was on again! I counted 5500 honeyeaters in one hour, between 1100 hrs
and 1200 hrs: they were flying west, along the Jerrabattgulla road. There
were more down in the valley, and more flying along the ridge top among the
trees on Harts Road.
This time the composition of the flocks was different, with a ratio of
4:1; _ 4 Yellow-faced Honeyeaters to each White-naped Honeyeater. There
were also a few Red Wattlebirds, but mainly singles, twos and threes: none
of the flocks of 25 that I had seen in the past. Also a couple of
White-eared Honeyeaters. The mixed flocks were mainly larger than before,
up to 300 at a time, and in a hurry. We later paced them in the car, and
reckoned they were going 20 - 30 kph.
Again they assembled in the bare poplars and willows at the bottom of the
hill, on Jerrabattgulla creek past the Warraganda homestead, and built up
numbers before tackling the open space which confronts them before reaching
Tallaganda State Forest to the west. Groups of 3-400 would burst out and
whirl up, some quite high, presumably on a recce, and then would swoop back
to the bare trees. This could be repeated two or three times, by which time
more HEs would have arrived, and then a large number would make the dash.
It is a great sight to see, as you can stand right next to the trees, and
have the HEs whirl over your head. Their undersides often look silver in
the sunshine. And your binocs are filled with disappearing dots.
Directions for anyone wanting to see this phenomenon (it is much more
impressive than the Murrumbidgee autumn outward migration was this year):
Go via Captains Flat to the Braidwood/Cooma Rd, turn right for about 6 kms,
then right along the Jerrabattgulla Road for about 2kms. Here there are
trees to the left of the road, and a few on the northern side. This is
where the flocks meet the road. They then tend to zig and zag across the
road, flying west.
GPS for this spot 35 40.162 S
149 36.412 E
Muriel
PS. If you are going to count, take a second observer - it helps.
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