I spent some effort yesterday trying to work out how many Trillers there were, just for curiosity. I thought there was likely more than one family because they often nest colonially and bec there seemed to be more than three, though I could never see more than three at one time. I finally found five hawking from one tree, so there are at least five and more likely 7 (two families) or 10 (three families).
There’s at least two juveniles, one was being fed yesterday so may be younger. I’m hoping to observe when and how they depart: Hanzab says sometimes they all go together, and sometimes young birds go separately later. Also the sexes can depart and travel separately so hopefully this might be observable.
From: Julian Robinson [
Sent: Wednesday, 14 March 2012 00:33
To: 'canberrabirds'
Cc: Elizabeth Compston
Subject: [canberrabirds] Late-breeding Trillers
Elizabeth Compston asked me to keep an eye out for the recently fledged WW Triller at Callum Brae. The youngster and I think both parents were still there on Saturday 10th. I actually got a photo of all three in one shot, assuming that the left hand bird is the male already out of his breeding plumage.
The juvenile fledged on the 18th Feb give or take a day or two, so would have hatched on about the 6th Feb and on Saturday was nearly 5 weeks old.
Julian
www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian/
