Mistletoebird - migrant vs overwintering [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

["Geoffrey Dabb" <>]

Thanks Martin.  A good case in point.  This may be an example of the movement question being inextricably linked with food availability (ie fruiting mistletoe) within a quite short range.  I would predict that most relevant GBS sites (if not all) would be found to take in eucs with mistletoe.   As I think  Philip has said, it is so difficult to assess the significance of GBS trends without knowing the habitat taken in by the site.

 

My experience from surveys in the Mugga Lane area (not necessarily in the sites themselves) is that the species can be found year-round if food is present.  [I wrote the foregoing before checking the ACT atlas and finding a variation in ‘cells’ of between about 5% in Aug and 35% in November and the note ‘.. small numbers overwinter each year.  This prolonged period of residence is probably determined by the seasonal abundance of mistletoe fruit.’]

 

There is also the seasonal ‘call’ issue.  The species calls more frequently in Spring, and otherwise is often out of view in a mistletoe clump.

 

From: martin butterfield [
Sent: Wednesday, 3 September 2008 1:24 PM
To:
Cc: Perkins, Harvey;
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Mistletoebird - migrant vs overwintering [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

My experience in the COG AOI generally matches that of Marnix.

The mistletoebird is not commonly reported in the GBS. The Annual Bird Report (ABR) for the year eded 30 June 07 shows an A value of 0.0204 which ranks it at #84 and even the higher abundance quoted in that ABR would only promote it to about #65.  However to add to the debate here are some comments.

The observations in the database show the earliest records for a GBS year (ie starting on July 1) occurring in July on 5 occasions, August on 6; September on 10 and later than September on 5. 

There are 12 observations for June - interestingly:

• all are North of the Lake except one record in year 7 from a site in Kambah which is currently active; and  
• 6 of the June records occur in the last 5 years (but this may be explained by the commencement of the sites in question rather than a change in behaviour of the birds).

Martin

On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 12:14 PM, <> wrote:

There was a vocal male Mistletoebird at Newline in late July as well.

I have recorded male Mistletoebirds on various occasions in the past in
July and August at various sites around Canberra. But I couldn't tell you
if they were early returns or over-winterers.

Marnix Zwankhuizen | Senior Analyst Java Enterprise Technology
Australian Electoral Commission | PO Box 6172 | Kingston ACT 2604 | Phone
+61 2 6271 4465 | Fax +61 2 6271 4644 | E-mail




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                                         [canberrabirds] Mistletoebird -
                                         migrant vs overwintering
                                         [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Just to add to the general discussion on migration vs overwintering, and
having just read a comment in Gang-Gang about no returned Mistletoebirds
yet...

I saw a male Mistletoebird at the picnic area at Molonglo Gorge on 2
August. On a return visit a couple of weeks later I heard one calling as it
flew overhead. Early return or overwinterer?

Please note new email address:  


Harvey Perkins
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