Hello Canberra Birders,
May I divert your attention backwards by a couple of months. I'd be
very interested to find out what the general impression was by
Canberra birders of the honeyeater migration this autumn just gone
(2011). I've looked in the archives, and it seems the migration
started early, with a few mentions through April, but I can find no
mention of the migration during May, or how the overall numbers
compared with other years.
Here in the Blue Mountains, this year's migration was MUCH smaller
than usual. As it happens, volunteers from Blue Mountains Bird
Observers this year completed their first season of counts for the
IBA project. Out of 76 20-minute counts done at key sites throughout
the season, only five counts resulted in more than 200 birds and only
one had more than 400 birds. This is just a fraction of the numbers
we usually see. Although we don't yet have other years of data with
which to compare, a few of us have done many informal counts and
observations over the years so we have a general feeling for the
usual numbers. In most years we have numerous days when they stream
through in many thousands of birds per hour. Nothing at all like that
this year.
It's possible this was more of an "inland year", or maybe they just
didn't migrate much at all, so any comparisons with your area would
give a valuable insight.
Cheers,
Carol
Carol Probets
Blue Mountains NSW
President
Blue Mountains Bird Observers
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