Two years of GBS in Giralang

[Duncan McCaskill <>]

I've had a few new species in my GBS (Garden Bird Survey) patch recently and there was bit of discussion on "yard lists" a little while back on this chat-line and in Ian Fraser's Gang-gang column, all of which prompted me to actually put in a bit of effort and compile a list.

I've only been doing GBS for (almost) two years now. But I'm pretty lazy when it comes to record keeping, so by time I had two years of GBS sheets I hadn't bothered to keep a count.

In 2009/10 my count was 84, and so far this year its 76. The total across both years is 96 species, which is certainly much higher than I would guessed before I started. I live on Ginninderra Creek, so my species count is boosted by many common water birds. I have also taken full advantage of the current GBS rule that allows a site to be 3.1 ha of any shape  to include about 300m of creek. My count includes a semi-feral Muscovy Duck and a presumed escaped Budgie that was living "in the wild" for at least several weeks by doing the rounds of the feeding stations with a flock of red-rumps.

 

When I add all the other species that I can remember having seen in my yard in the 20 years I have been here I get another 10, making 106.

 

Unusual garden birds on my list include Brown Quail, White-fronted Chat (both seen just once about 20 years ago), Nankeen Night-Heron, Latham's Snipe and, recently, Osprey.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that my first recording week more or less coincided with the first appearance of Yellow-Tufted Honeyeater and Boobook and the reappearance after years of absence of Black-shouldered Kite & Nankeen Night-Heron.

 

On the other hand, there are several species that I was sure I would record, based on sightings in previous years, that have so far failed to show up, including Pallid Cuckoo, Dollarbird, White-winged Triller and Grey Currawong.

 

One bird I would very much like to see around here sometimes, but so far haven't, is Canberra's very own Gang-gang. I even planted a black cypress pine (Callitris endlicheri) in the (probably mistaken) belief that Gang-gangs like them.

 

Its probably a reflection on the quality of the habit that we still have in and around Canberra that it is possible to get such a high species count in the middle of suburbia.

Duncan.