In response to the request for the article by Steve Wilson “Further
Details of Three Rare Species in the A.C.T. List”, CBN 3(7) July 1976:
11-12, here is the relevant extract.
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
This species was added to
the list by Lamm et al (1963). The circumstances were that on 14 February 1961,
while bird watching on the hills in the area between the developed area of the
suburb of Campbell and the area where the Defence Offices now stand at Russell
Hill, a strange species was sighted. On that occasion and on three subsequent
trips the Wilson
boys, Brendan and Denis, were also present.
Realising that it was a
strange species for the A.C.T. a further try was made at identification on the
following two days (15 and 16 February 1961). Mist nets were erected on both
days in the area where the birds were seen on the first occasion; the area at
that time had many large plants of the introduced boxthorn among widely spaced
eucalypts. The nets in use at that time were 11/2 inch mesh made from nylon,
nets which proved incapable of holding most of our smaller species. A group of
four of the strange species was sighted at quite close range on both days and
they were identified as the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, a bird with which the
three observers were familiar from trips to the Riverina district.
Many attempts were made
over several hours on each day to flush the birds from the bushes into the nets
and individuals hit on several occasions. The mesh was too large and the birds
escaped through the nets.
As work on the
illustrations for Birds in the Australian
High Country was then well advanced, a request had been made for a
specimen to be collected which would be lodged with the Museum, CSIRO Division
of Wildlife Research. As the two netting efforts had failed to catch one of the
birds, a further collecting effort was made on 17 February 1961, this time with
a 45-bore, dust shot, hand gun. But by then the four birds had disappeared.
This species is somewhat
nomadic and is very common as one reaches the flatter country of the inland not
far to the west. There are no other A.C.T. records and it would be interesting
to know how close to our area it has been seen by other observers. Species such
as this could be sighted here at any time but especially in drought years; but
1961 was not a drought year.
