Butcherbird in Holder

[martin butterfield <>]

I will hopefully be able to attach an image to this showing A (abundance) and F (Frequency) statistics for the Grey Butcherbird over the 30 completed years of the GBS.  As seems logical with a species exploring new territory the value of F (the proportion of sites at which the species was seen at least once in the year) started to climb before A which indicates the number of birds seen over the course of the year.


Until I prepared this chart I had thought that the increase of the Butcherbirds was an outcome of the '03 fires destroying their 'normal' habitat in the ranges.  However it would seem from the chart that they were already beginning to move - shown by F, especially the trend line, from about 1999 - while the large increase in A only happens around 2006 - presumably when breeding had started to develop a local population.

Martin

On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 9:03 AM, Jack & Andrea Holland <> wrote:

Hello Sue,

 

You might have seen Bruce Lindenmayer’s post earlier this week that he had 3 in his garden in NW Chapman.

 

I live several hundred metres closer to Darwinia Tce, and over the past couple of months have observed their movement from Cooleman Ridge down into his place, and slowly into my GBS.

 

However, over the past week they have moved deep into Rivett.

 

All birds I have seen are brown immatures, reflecting post-breeding movement.

 

So it’s possible yours is one of ours, or possibly from another area now moving through, perhaps looking for a territory.

 

They used to be unusual in Canberra gardens, but over the past few years have become more common, to the extent they they are now included in the GBS chart!!

 

Jack Holland

 

From:

Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 8:41 AM

To:

Subject: [canberrabirds] Butcherbird in Holder

 

Hey All,

 

A Grey? Butcherbird just passed through my GBS area! I don’t think I’ve seen one here before. I only got a quick look at it and would say it was probably an immature, but that cackly call is hard to miss. Is this unusual or are they all over the place and I just haven’t been paying attention?

 

Sue Beatty

Holder

Attachment:

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