canberrabirds

An unusual day

To: "Canberra birds" <>
Subject: An unusual day
From: "wallaces" <>
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:00:35 +1000
While it started much like any other winter day, today turned out to be a bit out of the ordinary. 
 
It started with an early morning walk on Mt Rogers. I had hardly left the car when a male mistletoebird appeared on a dead branch in full sun and remainded there long enought to get some video footage.  The wind eventually chased me back home for a hot coffee and for what I thought would be a quiet day but the birds just kept coming into my yard.
 
My GBS list for the week so far quickly rose to a record 30 species with 24 (not all new for the week) being recorded in a short period today. The record number of species is not only significantly more than any other week in winter, it is more than any other week in any season in the the past three years.
 
While nothing I recorded was unusual for Canberra at this time of year, some are unusual for my GBS:
o a Willie Wagtail, the first in many years
o a mixed flock of Weebills, Brown Thornbills and Spotted Pardalotes 15 strong (a large flock for my GBS)
o 25 House Sparrows in a flock, up significantly from 3 years ago when weeks would go by without seeing one and most recent observations of less than 10 (I think they have recovered from their well publicised slump in numbers)
o 13 Starlings feeding, small numbers usually only fly over
o 7 Spotted Doves, the highest number I have recorded
o a hybrid Eastern/Crimson Rosella
 
Winter can surpise and delight even on a windy day.
 
Steve
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