Putting aside those species that leave the Canberra area
altogether, we all know about those species that become a bit scarce in
the local area in the Winter months. July is the low month for
several of those species. Actually the lowest period might be something
more like 20 June – 20 July. This year let’s take a closer look
at the 8 weeks ending on 31 July, starting this Sunday 6 June. There are
signs that with the wet Autumn more food might be around this Winter.
It’s a bit arbitrary, but these are the 10 species I
suggest are of main interest in this regard:
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Australian Reed-Warbler
Rufous Whistler
Rufous Songlark
Western Gerygone
White-throated Gerygone
Noisy Friarbird
Olive-backed Oriole
Dusky Woodswallow
None impossible, some more likely than others.
If you come across any of those 10 species in the ACT/COG
area 6 June to 31 July. I would be very interested to get a report of it (with
numbers) with a view to collating the results. You could send a report to
the chatline or to me directly.
Incidentally, I do not myself like the term ‘straggler’,
which suggests some kind of character defect or other weakness that leads to
the bird being seen in Canberra in Winter. There will be a reason for the
bird’s presence even if we don’t understand what it is.
At the risk of causing some irritation I will send a reminder
about this at 2-week intervals.
I hope this might add a little interest to your Winter
watching.
