The nest described by Rod belongs to a pair of Whistling Kites,
possibly the pair that has nested in recent years behind the Duntroon
gym. Traditionally ie over the last 25 years Whistling Kites have been
regarded as less often seen around Canberra than Little Eagles. Current concern
about the LEs arises from an absence of successful nestings in recent years in
what would have been regarded as core habitat, where one could usually find at
least one nest each season somewhere around the suburban area eg the Newline
paddock, Mount Mugga, East O’Malley. On the other hand there is an
abundance of WKs across the watercourses of the Murray/Darling especially where
there are billabongs with tall trees.
Anyone having difficulty separating the 2 species might compare
the following with the LEs posted yesterday –
From: Rod's Gardening
[
Sent: Sunday, 2 September 2007 8:12 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Jerrabomberra Creek
I
paddled Jerrabomberra Ck and associated wetlands today for some interesting
sights:
-
Possible (probable?) breeding activity by a pair of raptors, Whistling Kites I
think, but as they didn't "whistle" I can't be absolutely sure - I
guess the other possibility would be Little Eagles. The ACT Birds
Atlas suggests breeding by Little Eagles is rare, and Whistling Kites
bred in Jerrabomberra Wetlands "as recently as 1983" - surely there
have been other records since then. In today's event a large untidy nest
sighted atop one of the willows, with large raptor nearby. A
second bird not previously visible left the nest as I approached. On the
way back a bird again left the nest to perch a short distance away. I'll
re-visit when possible to see what happens. Other paddlers may be
interested.
Rod
Mackay
Rod's Garden Maintenance
