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The inaugural K2C bird survey was held on Sunday 18
April across 23 properties in an area stretching from Williamsdale in
the north to south of Bredbo. The survey aims to monitor birds in woodlands
and grassland where conservtion actions are being undertaken, and to provide
feedback to landholders involved in K2C (Kosciuszko to Coast) on the outcomes of
their conservation actions.
The 21 COG participants were grouped into
small teams and allocated a number of sites to survey across two or more
properties during the morning. A fog had not been
on the agenda when leaving Canberra on a beautiful bright morning, however
Michelago to Bredbo were enshrouded in what was reportedly the first decent fog
of the season, which took an hour or more to clear into a typical sunny autumn
day.
The 38 survey sites covered a variety of
vegetation types and qualities ranging from Lovely Grassland (ie. Love Grass
paddocks, either untreated or being revegetated with native trees and shrubs),
and one truly lovely native grassland site, through to Yellow
Box and/or Apple Box woodlands, some with degraded understorey, some being
revegetated with tubestock or direct-seeding, some regenerating naturally, and
some other very intact box woodlands.
The honeyeater migration was a feature of the
morning, particularly the Yellow-faced, with about one-quarter
White-naped and a smattering of Fuscous and
White-eared. Once the fog cleared they popped their heads up
over the ridge on the eastern side of the Murrumbidgee and streamed through some
of the sites in their hundreds. At one site near Williamsdale, over one thousand
were counted in the 20 minutes using a 15 year old tree planting as an east-west
corridor to cross the cleared paddocks.
The most significant record of the morning was of
three Glossy Black-Cockatoos at the aptly-named "Cockatoo"
property on the southern end of the Tinderries. The cockatoos flew over the
survey site in box woodland at the foot of a large granite hill,
heading for the stands of Drooping She-oak higher up.
Other significant sightings were Hooded
Robin on six properties, Diamond Firetail on ten
properties, Brown Treecreeper (five properties),
Speckled Warbler (three properties), Scarlet
Robin (three properties), Southern Whiteface (nine
properties), and 3 Peaceful Dove at the most southerly property
surveyed. A total of 83 species were recorded for the morning; 9 of these
were wetland species recorded on a couple of large dams on the surveyed
properties including Musk Duck and Australasian
Shoveler.
cheers
Nicki Taws
02 6251 0303
0408 210
736
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