2) Rufus Songlarks, 1) White-winged Triller at ANU [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[martin butterfield <>]

I dislike repeating myself but there have been a couple of flocks of woodswallows  at my GBS site so far this year.  One (about 6 weeks ago) of about 40 Whitebrowed and the other - on Tuesday this week) of roughy 40 birds in equal numbers of white-browed, masked and dusky.

They have stayed around for a few hours only before heading off in a Southerly direction.

Martin

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

Yes Marnix  -  trillers and songlarks are good examples.  Perhaps the best example is the W-browed Wswallows (sometimes with Masked) when they appear  -  maybe every 3 years.  On 4 occasions  in S Canberra esp Callum Brae I have seen large numbers suddenly arrive and feed in company, before they move on abruptly, leaving maybe a dozen nesting pairs in a good year and in a poor year only a couple.  It is as if the main cohort exhausts the readily available food and has to move on to maintain itself.  I wonder if the stayers represent more mature bids or more strongly bonded pairs.  There are a few relevant obs noted in HANZAB including from Canberra.   No sign of a woodswallow horde as yet this spring.   One view is that such influxes are pushed by dry conditions to west, which might not exist this year.

 

From: Marnix Zwankhuizen [
Sent: Friday, 23 October 2009 3:10 PM
To: 'Dimitris Bertzeletos'; canberra birds
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] 2) Rufus Songlarks, 1) White-winged Triller at ANU [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

UNCLASSIFIED

Hi,

I have found over the years from my own observations that many summer migrants peak early on in spring. Many appear on passage in less suitable areas but only stay briefly before moving on. Only a percentage will stay on in more suitable areas to breed.

 

However, this spring has been a wet one and maybe more of them will stay around in these areas this summer.

 

Cheers,

 

Marnix Zwankhuizen | Assistant Director

IT Solutions | Information Technology

Australian Electoral Commission

T: 02 6271 4465 | F: 02 6271 4644

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UNCLASSIFIED

From: Dimitris Bertzeletos [
Sent: Friday, 23 October 2009 2:18 PM
To: canberra birds
Subject: [canberrabirds] 2) Rufus Songlarks, 1) White-winged Triller at ANU

 

Hello all,

Just got home from Uni and there was a pair of Rufus Songlarks in the upper reaches of Sullivan's Creek (in the park directly opposite ANU campus). There was also a calling White-winged Triller in the willows there.

Cheers!

Dimitris

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