Dear Jack,
Don't worry, I'm not offended! I agree it must have been disconcerting to
have someone say they saw chats and then up pops a photo of a pipit-looking
bird. I should have changed the subject heading.
Mount Stromlo is in very close proximity. Did you see the google map that
Martin Butterfield sent of the area where we saw the chats? The map
pinpointed the spot fairly accurately. The place is accessed on Coppins
Crossing Road and is not far from the intersection with Uriarra Road. The
far side of Uriarra Road is Mt Stromlo and Stromlo pine forest extends all
the way down to Uriarra Road and then sweeps in a wide arc all the way back
round to Coppins Crossing bridge. The area where we saw the birds sort of
completes the circle of this arc back to Mt Stromlo. This is probably very
confusing!
Geoffrey Dabb thinks the 'pipit' bird might be a singing bushlark (see his
grassland birds entry) - he knew to change the subject heading!!
Caroline.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack and Andrea Holland
Sent: Monday, 9 August 2010 8:10 PM
To: Eric Wenger
Subject: White fronted chat
Caroline, please accept our apologies for Philip, he just doesn't seem to be
able to stop himself, and doesn't seem to understand that our aim is to
encourage chat line subscribers to post and discuss their sightings.
How far is your spot from Stromlo Forest Park, which is the only place in
the ACT where White-fronted Chats have been regularly recorded over the past
5 years or so? They may have moved a bit due to the much better conditions.
While your picture is of an Australian Pipit I suspect your mystery bird is
a Skylark which does occur at Stromlo FP, and rises very high to call all
the time in spring (though probably only just starting to do so). It's a
grassland species as opposed to the Rufous Songlark, a spring migrant which
prefers open wooded areas, and has a much more strident call. None have so
far been reported, but you could well be the first this spring!
Jack Holland
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