When we were looking for brown songlarks a couple of years ago out past
Parkwood on the ACT border I saw some small 'larks' do a strange flight, low,
with fast wingbeats, and intermittent glides. I watched for ages but could not
get close enough to ID. Having now seen the singing bushlark alarm flight it
looked very similar to this.
Unfortunately this year the paddock is heavily grazed. But on the other side of
the road the grass is long and have heard two separate brown songlarks, seen
pippits and quite a few skylarks, so this may be a potential spot for singing
bushlarks although just outside ACT.
I agree with Roger and Frank. I saw the singing bushlark and one of the birds
at Coppins appears to have a crest, I checked all my field guides and none say
they have a crest.
Benj
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack and Andrea Holland
Sent: Saturday, 11 November 2006 12:57 PM
To: ; COG
Subject: Singing Bushlarks
I've hardly (if at all) seen the Singing Bushlark in the ACT since I used to
record it regularly (and the White-fronted Chat for that matter, including some
breeding observations for both) when I was doing Lake Tuggeranong surveys in
the late 1980s, when it was present mainly around what is now the roundabout on
Drakeford/Isabella Drives.
So it's great to see all the activity on Coppings Crossing Road with
subscribers getting great views and photos, and more importantly pointing out
the key diagnostic features. The one that I still find most difficult is
identifying it by it's call, particularly differentiating it from the skylark
when calling high overhead as it often does.
This is a species that is easily overlooked (partly because it lives in
grasslands as does the Brown as opposed to the Rufous Songlark) and the
challenge now should be where else does it occur within the ACT/COG area of
concern. It wasn't present in the Jerrabomberra Grasslands Nature Reserve when
we looked for it (sort of) last weekend. Clearly the grass wasn't rank enough
judging from some of the photos posted on this chat line.
One area that I've often wondered about (as it reminds me of the area round
Lake Tuggeranong late 1980s), though have never got round to checking is on
Hindmarsh Drive where it crosses Jerrabomberra Creek, particularly on the S
side. Access may be poor, but certainly worth checking, and nows the time as
it only seems to call for a couple of months of the year (prebreeding?).
Jack Holland
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