Below is an extract from a posting I made on the chat line back in 2009
following a trip to the Top End:
"Woolianna on the Daly River - Douglas/Daly area. At sunset, a huge number
of Magpie-larks assembled on the powerlines, impossible to count because of
the constant movement to and from the adjacent mango trees, but bigger than
any similar assembly of Starlings I've ever seen. My gut feeling was in
excess of a thousand birds, but no sign of them next morning, at least not
those numbers. As we only stayed one night I don't know whether this was a
regular occurrence or a one off event. Where from, where to and why?"
I think Sandra's posting almost 2 years down the track probably answers the
"why" question I raised at the time: based on the "Birds in Backyard" web
page comment they were probably non-breeding and young birds forming a large
nomadic flock. We are generally urged to "underestimate" when counting
birds, but in retrospect there could easily have been several thousand birds
in that flock. It was certainly an unforgettable sight.
Cheers
Rod
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