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Well, it may not be "really great
native vegetation" Martin, but Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens love it! I saw
several today.
Suzanne: There are very few/no remnant trees, I think the
whole of Wamboin was cleared early last century, so hollows, or large ones
anyway, are not obvious - apart from White-throated Treecreepers and both
rosellas, there were very few hollow-nesters evident today. It just has that
chemistry that these birds are after - I'd kill to be able to duplicate it on
our property!
David
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 6:25 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] White-browed Woodswallows et al at
Wamboin
I have commented previously that if horses are swine flu, trail
bikes are ebola.
My memory of visiting the area to try (and fail) to find
Heathwrens in a a gale is that the main understory is Kunzea ericoides, which
isn't really great native vegetation.
Martin
On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 5:54 PM, Suzanne Tunks <>
wrote:
It could really be worthwhile to have the conservation value
of these blocks advertised more widely, if it isn't already occuring.
With so much good bird habitat already degraded or destroyed, and with
so much more to occur with the forecasts of 35 million Aussies by 2050, we
need to work as hard as we can to protect what remains. I agree with you
about the travesty of horses or other livestock trashing the place. Even
if a syndicate could get together to obtain the money. I'm guessing
there is a pretty good understory of native grasses and shrubs. Are
there a lot of old remnant trees on the blocks as well? That list of
species, with breeding as well, speaks for itself.
David Cook
wrote:
Following on from David McDonald's post, yesterday I went
to the area of Birchman's Estate in Wamboin where the Chestnut-rumped
Heathwrens were last year (blocks 15, 16, 17 and 18 for those in the know).
It was cold and blowing a gale, but despite that there were both
White-browed and Dusky Woodswallows feeding young, as well as Hooded Robins,
Brown-headed and White-eared Honeyeaters, Varied Sittellas, Superb
Fairy-wrens, White-throated Treecreepers, Mistletoebirds, and many of the
more common species.
I went back this morning, the weather being both
calmer and warmer, and struck avian gold!
Again I found both species
of woodswallows feeding young, but this time also found some sitting on
nests at less than head height.
Additionally, the Chestnut-rumped
Heathwrens are still there and apparently thriving; Diamond Firetail
juveniles very evident; Southern Whitefaces everywhere; White-winged
Trillers feeding a fledgling; likewise Rufous Whistlers; Brown-headed
Honeyeater adults and juveniles; several pairs of Hooded Robins and at least
one pair feeding a fledgling. And many other species, eg Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrikes, both rosellas, Buff-rumped and Yellow-rumped Thornbills,
Magpies, Fairy Martins, etc.
All in all, a great morning, and
hopefully some good photos to boot.
None of these blocks have sold as
yet, so if any of you cashed-up Coggies are looking for a tree change, this
is the place! It would be a travesty to see these wooded blocks get trashed
by horses or other livestock.
Here are a couple of White-browed
Woodswallow shots from yesterday for those interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kookr/4283711410/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kookr/4282966917/
David
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