In January, when we did the Painted Snipe (the bird that doesn't exist) survey
we counted 124 HH and 41 Aust Grebes at FSP. As Frank mentioned, they were
mostly on the 2 northerly ponds.
Sue
________________________________
From: Michael & Janette Lenz
Sent: Tue 24/04/2007 7:45 PM
To: chat line
Subject: Re: On counting Grebes at the Fyshwik Sewage Ponds (FSP)
Steve and Prue and Martin,
Steve's and Prue's and my counts would indicate at least for the Aust. Grebe
stable numbers over that April period, very good.
Regarding Martin's question whether time of day may have an impact. Well, it
may, but what I found was that if I approach the ponds very cautiously and
count from a distance, I always get a lower number. Some birds dive, others
keep to the edges etc. But if I get close enough that the birds are just
"alarmed", they all stay on the water and come out and keep a watching eye on
me. And this scenario gives me as a rule a higher count.
The story is a bit different for the Blue-billed Ducks, but it takes some time
and counting repeatedly before I think I have the full number of birds present.
First count is usually well below the final total, especially for females.
The other thing of note at FSP at the moment is the steep decline in numbers of
Hardheads, very much the same at the Bungendore S.P. , although I don't have
actual counts from there.
The other message from these changes in recent times is really, that regular
counts/monitoring at the FSP would be valuable (as suggested some time ago),
this may prove to be our best "wetland" for some time to come.
Michael Lenz
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