canberrabirds

White-fronted Chats

To: "'Canberrabirds'" <>
Subject: White-fronted Chats
From: "Geoffrey Dabb" <>
Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 11:24:22 +1000

Exactly Phillip.  That habitat specialisation produces odd results given the method used in the BA atlas and such products.  You are guaranteed a WFC on any visit to many spots on the Vic coast, but if the visit to the cell does not include the right habitat it will not be reported.  This gives the impression that the heartland is certain Bass Strait islands where there are not a lot of land birds to see except White-fronted Chats.  Much local atlassing suffers from a similar fallacy, which is why I am not a whole-hearted contributor.

 

wfc2_0531.JPG

 

From: Philip Veerman [
Sent: Tuesday, 12 May 2009 11:52 PM
To: 'John Layton'; 'Canberrabirds'
Subject: [canberrabirds] White-fronted Chats

 

Certainly the answer to your question is yes, but that fully depends what are your distance limits on "elsewhere". They are a species that I have encountered huge numbers of times around SE Australia generally, but not often in the ACT region. In the ACT region, those spots I recall have been Googong Dam foreshores, Tuggeranong Lake, before the lake was there, and Bungendore Sewage works. That is hardly surprising, when you look at the habitats they most prefer, there is not much of it in the ACT Region and what there is is quite marginal.

 

Philip  

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: John Layton [
Sent: Tuesday, 12 May 2009 4:55 PM
To: Canberrabirds
Subject: [canberrabirds] White-fronted Chats ???

Are there any reasonably reliable places at Stromlo Park or elsewhere where we may see the mythical White-fronted Chats? Been there thrice, but the White-fronted have not fronted. As Elder Brat remarked, "They're fig birds, figments of a birder's imagination." Such quaint cynicism may stem from the fact she's an Arts/Law sophomore.

 

John Layton

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