G’day all,
I didn’t get quite as carried away as Barbara
would have liked but did manage to do a few sites not too far from home,
including the 3 grassland reserves near Kaleen/Mitchell/Palmerston. I had a
thought while doing the Gungaderra Grasslands Reserve – not one of the three
species I recorded was actually “using” the site, they were all
flying over, including a Little Pied Cormorant, a very well known grassland
species – NOT! Can these species really be claimed to be using the site
although the other two species almost certainly would at some stage, the Common
Starling and Australian Magpie. I also managed to pick another LPC up as it flew
over the Crace Grasslands Reserve. While attending the Scotland v
France World Cup Rugby League game at Canberra Stadium I also managed to put in
a survey.
I am also wondering who has the “record”
for the latest start to a survey. At present I will claim that honour unless
someone can beat me – I only managed ONE species but it was a Southern
Boobook that started calling in my backyard at around 1145 pm (that’s
when I looked at the clock) last night and succeeded in waking both me and my
daughter up. It kept going until about 2 am this morning. My daughter has
threatened to shoot it if it comes back tonight!!
Overall in the sites that I did I was surprised by
the lack of Pied Currawongs and Common Mynas – the latter I don’t
think is related to the activities of CIMAG, the number of feral Honey Bee
nests in hollow trees around the place and the amount of exotic weeds (not
Cootamundra Wattle) in some of the Nature Reserves I surveyed.
Now to get all the sheets written up and over to
Barbara before I head off to Cape York on
Thursday.
Mark
