canberrabirds

Black-chinned Honeyeaters

To: "'Alastair Smith'" <>, <>
Subject: Black-chinned Honeyeaters
From: "Mark Clayton" <>
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:22:18 +1000
Hi all,

I think it is pretty obvious that the observer, who I do not know, is
confusing White-naped Honeyeaters with Black-chinned honeyeaters, even
though it is late in the season for White-napes to still be in the local
area. Tidbinbilla is a long way from the species core habitat, the Yellow
Box - Ironbark woodlands well to the west of TNR. The fact that there was no
unusual report forthcoming suggests the observer was having second thoughts
about his identification, especially as Alastair informed him it was a
potential first record locally.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Alastair Smith  
Sent: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 7:59 PM
To: 
Subject: Black-chinned Honeyeaters

Further searching of the birding-aus archive has produced the report (my
2002/2003 is in fact 2005)

To:     "birding-aus" <>
Subject:        Trip Report - Canberra 10-15 July 2005
From:   "Tom and Mandy Wilson" <>
Date:   Sun, 17 Jul 2005 03:20:50 +1000

Hi
I visited Canberra from 10-15 July for a short family holiday.  As well as a
few family trips out into the bush, I managed a couple of trips out on my
own to venues advised in response to my RFI a couple of weeks back (Thanks
to Alastair Smith & Graham Turner for the hints of spots to visit).
Highlights for me were:
- Little Eagle "surfing" the gale above Mt Ainslie on Sunday 10 July
- a very confiding Scarlet Robin at Tidbinbilla NR on 11 July - if I'd had
my camera out (instead of herding my two kids away from the edge of a dam) I
reckon he'd have come and perched on the lens!
- good selection of honeyeaters around the waterbird area at Tidbinbilla,
including Black Chinned, White Eared,  and possible Fuscous (almost too
non-descript to be anything else)
- watching a dispute between 3 Brown Falcons at Adaminaby on 12 July whilst
on our way to the Mt Selwyn resort to see the snow
- a big flock of Hoary Headed Grebe on L Burley Griffin on 13 July doing
formation swimming
- good selection of ducks at Jerrabomberra Wetlands and Fyshwick STW on 13
July, including 2 Blue Billed Duck, 2 Freckled Duck, lots of Pink Eared Duck
and 1 Australasian Shoveler, plus the more common species and lots of grebes
and
- Gang-gangs and a Flame Robin and a Scarlet Robin in the Aust National
Botanic Gardens on 14 July
- lots of good woodland birds at Campbell Park on 14 July, including more
Scarlet Robins, a Grey Currawong doing an impression of a Varied Sittella,
lots of Weebills and Varied Sittellas, 2 friendly Speckled Warblers, a small
party of Crested Shrike Tits and a Common Bronzewing (that I nearly stepped
on and then took off with a huge clatter, giving me a huge scare)

We drove home a long way to Sydney via Boorowa & Cowra, hoping to find
Superb Parrots - it was a bit late in the season and they would probably
have mostly gone north, but I was hoping.  The weather didn't help - any
Superb Parrot worth it's salt would have been safely tucked away in a tree
hollow away from the driving showers and the cold SW wind! - and there were
lots of Red Rumpeds trying to confuse me as well. I got one brief look at 3
bigger, long tailed birds but that as it, and they were gone into a thicker
patch of trees before I could really get a bead on them - next time I'll go
in the spring/summer when the weather's better!

One thing I noticed coming back was the large number of Kestrels and Black
Shouldered Kites hovering over the road sides - I reckon I was seeing one or
the other about every 3 or 4 minutes in the stretch
Boorowa-Cowra-Bathurst-Lithgow. I wonder if some of there were drought
refugees from further west?
Cheers
Tom Wilson

-----Original Message-----
From: Alastair Smith  
Sent: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 7:45 PM
To: 'Barbara Allan'; 'Geoffrey Dabb'
Cc: 
Subject: Black-chinned Honeyeaters

Interestingly, there has been a prior report of black-chinned honeyeater.
>From memory it was allegedly seen at Tidbinbilla in about 2002/2003 and was
reported on Birding-aus. I followed this up with the observer at the time
and informed him this would be the first ever record for the ACT, so a. was
he sure? and b. if sure he should follow this up with a UBR. Obviously the
record did not make it to the database and no UBR was submitted.
Despite searching the Birding-aus archives I cannot find the posting.
Cheers
Alastair

-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara Allan  
Sent: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 4:53 PM
To: 'Geoffrey Dabb'
Cc: 
Subject: Black-chinned Honeyeaters

There are no records, endorsed or otherwise, of the Black-chinned Honeyeater
amongst COG's Rarities Panel collections. b 

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoffrey Dabb  
Sent: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 9:08 AM
To: 
Subject: Black-chinned Honeyeaters

Is this the first record of BC Honeyeaters for the ACT?  They are not on the
list, or mentioned in Steve Wilson's book.

(Anyone looking for them today should beware of midweek orienteers, although
you never know what THEY might flush.)  g

-----Original Message-----
From: Milburns  
Sent: Tuesday, 12 June 2007 9:46 PM
To: 
Subject: Winter at Campbell Park



I was in the gully at the northern end of Campbell park in the late 
afternoon (about 16:20) watching a mixed feeding flock in the last 
rays of sunshine.  A flock of Honeyeaters dropped out of the sky and 
to my amazement each of the 6 or 7 birds that I had clear views of 
were Black-chinned Honeyeaters.  As the flock departed noisily to the 
south east I counted 14 individuals, all apparently the same species. 
They behaved essentially as Yellow-faced Honeyeaters do when they are 
travelling so I moved as quickly as I could along the edge of 
Campbell Park thinking that they would be reluctant to head across 
the paddocks.  There was no sign of them before dusk however.

Milburn
-- 
The Milburns
8 Miller Street
O'Connor
ACT 2602














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