This morning (2. June) at a site in North Lyneham 1 Pair
of Australasian Grebe with 1 dy, less than 2 weeks old. Calculating backwards,
breeding would have started around 15 to 20 April which brings it to the limit
of the known breeding season (April) for this species.
Also checked yesterday on some of the Noisy Miner
families at the ANU: in 3 cases young (albeit fully grown) were still
persistently begging and in one case an adult brought food while I was
there.
A few comments on some of the other recent reports on
late breeding on the chat line: Very notable the late record for a Red
Wattlebird from Barbara Allan. For the ACT, fledglings are reported only up to
February.
Regarding late begging Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (SCC).
This is a regular phenomenon (see also the ACT Atlas) and has been discussed in
the past on the chat line in the context of the GBS when such observations were
entered as breeding records for a given GBS although it is impossible to
establish the link between the sighting and the actual nest site in late
autumn/early winter. Philip Veerman reported 3 cases of begging young SCC alone
for West Kambah. Where they reported during one
survey or over different times? If the latter, with the high mobility of SCC,
especially at this time of year, it may not have been 3 separate
cases.
Yellow-rumped Thornbill: Philip and Mark Clayton are
correct in that it is getting harder to separate late from early nesting. It may
be a rather flexible boundary. However, the good number of cases (i.e. Barbara,
Lindsay Hansch) is very notable. For this and other species we may always have
the exceptional pair/group, but this year we may have a response to favourable
conditions by a larger number of birds.
This is certainly exciting to have so much breeding
activity at this time of year by species (in addition to the species above,
finches, Black Swan, Black Duck and Wood Duck) and more significantly, by
number.
Let?s hope all these observations find their way into the
data base.
Michael Lenz
