This year's honeyeater migration

[Denis Wilson <>]

Hi Carol.

Well speaking from Robertson (Sthn Highlands) I can support the theory of low numbers of migrating Honeyeaters this autumn.

But I know they are busy feeding in the Banksia-rich habitats of the southern end of the Sandstone Country (Tianjara and Budawangs and into the Shoalhaven Valley system). Banksia ericifolia is the best food plant for them in this area, but forms of B. spinulosa and others are found there too.

But they certainly did not make their presence felt in more than just "dribs and drabs" (approx 5-10 birds at a time) passing through Robertson, this autumn. I regard that as unusually low numbers. Hardly any "flocking" behaviour at all.

Cheers

Denis

On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Carol Probets <> wrote:

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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-- 
Denis Wilson
"The Nature of Robertson"
www.peonyden.blogspot.com