|
Very
good and right on cue for the time of year (or about two weeks early).......
With this extract from the GBS Report
Philip
Australian Hobby Falco
longipennis
This
species, although not particularly a garden bird, readily flies and hunts over
the suburbs and will have conspicuous favourite perching locations such as dead
tops of big trees or on power poles. When perched they are
approachable. ..............They have
probably the most interesting pattern of all species. Although, relative to the
total bird fauna of the region, they are not particularly common (constituting
only 0.05% of total birds), their monthly pattern is almost unmatched in its
dramatic regularity (see extra graph). This has been reported with preliminary
GBS data by Veerman (1991b). It ranks with the White-naped Honeyeater, as the
equal second most consistent species, after the Yellow-faced Honeyeater. Almost
every year the numbers peak in February, in five years they have peaked in
December, January or March instead. When all years are combined, numbers climb
smoothly to a peak in February then decline again to a fairly even minimum from
May to August. This is by combination of partial migration and consistent timing
of breeding. It is a very different pattern to the split peak of most summer
migrants. February is the time of year that young fledge and start to become
independent. This species is very active then and the birds are easily observed.
It is interesting that most individuals appear to leave the region before the
honeyeater migration, that would appear to be the time of peak food
availability. ......... This is the
only raptor with several breeding records (last in Year 17) and the seasonal
distribution of these is predictable. They involve display in October, nesting
in November to January and dependent young in February.
Graphs on pages 90
and 92, Rank: 44, Breeding Rank: 50,
A = 0.03744, F = 35.01%, W = 37.4,
R = 3.141%, G = 1.19.
... as in the plural of Australian Hobby, two of which have
been frequenting Kingston over the last week. A single adult accompanied
by an immature have been seen each morning last week (including today) either on
or between the two high rises on Jardine Street. It would appear that the
adult, possibly male since it appears smaller than the young one (?), is
“teaching” the newbie as there is much chasing around the towers with the
younger one “keening” incessantly even though the adult does not appear to be
carrying prey that might be shared. Suspect they have been roosting on 4
Jardine St., where I live on an upper floor, because they often swoop by our
bedroom window early morning with the young one providing an effective alarm
clock! The adult often roosts on the TV aerial on the high rise across the
road, while the young one prefers the protruding rim of around the penthouse,
giving great views.
Cheers
Shaun Bagley
p.s. for those who know me, please note new email
address.
|
