I agree, Jack. Within each influx a few pairs will start to nest, but apparently with no strong purpose. Could it be prompted by a rich temporary food source, as with the moths at present? There have been a few years when a long-staying pair or two completes a nesting. From: Jack & Andrea Holland [
Sent: Monday, 11 November 2013 7:00 AM
To: Martin Butterfield
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Woodswallows at New Line Paddock Martin, I think the higher than expected breeding reporting rate results from when the do come and stay around for any time, such as this year, they will attempt to breed. Due to their habit of doing this in loose flocks, with some speed and using almost any site, breeding is relatively easy to detect than for other species. I should add that it’s not always successful, often they abandon when conditions change, as they may do this time given the significant rain (and cold) over the past 24 hours. This at least is my experience since I first saw them doing this in the Tharwa area round about 1980 during the RAOU atlas. Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2013 9:03 PM Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Woodswallows at New Line Paddock Thanks Steve. I find the breeding reporting rate to be higher than I would have expected in my experience. That is coloured by the GBS data (which doesn't really cover Woodswallow breeding habitat to any large extent ) and reports to the chatline which may not all get followed up with record sheets especially if breeding is not involved. It is always good when facts correct gut feelings! On 10 November 2013 20:22, Wallaces <m("bigpond.net.au","skcbf");" target="_blank">> wrote: See last two columns. However, records which are classified as breeding, without any indication if it was a nest or not, have been excluded so the last two columns are probably an underestimate. Also, the data is for the whole of the COG dataset which includes the Garden Bird Survey. Steve | Number of sighting only records | Number of breeding records | Total number of records | Percent breeding records | Number of years with records | Number of years with breeding records | Breeding records as percent of years with records | Number of nest breeding records | Nest breeding records as percent of records | Species | | | | | | | | | | Dusky Woodswallow | 5336 | 629 | 5965 | 10.5% | 32 | 31 | 96.9% | 314 | 5.3% | Masked Woodswallow | 140 | 3 | 143 | 2.1% | 22 | 3 | 13.6% | 2 | 1.4% | White-browed Woodswallow | 414 | 89 | 503 | 17.7% | 28 | 13 | 46.4% | 52 | 10.3% |
From: Martin Butterfield [mailto:m("gmail.com","martinflab");" target="_blank">]
Sent: Sunday, 10 November 2013 5:11 PM
To: Wallaces
Cc: COG List
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Woodswallows at New Line Paddock
Steve Can you separate the breeding records into the nest found records (combination of ON, NE, NY) and others? The proportion of breeding records seems notably higher than average for these species. On 10 November 2013 17:04, Wallaces <m("bigpond.net.au","skcbf");" target="_blank">> wrote: Some information on woodswallow breeding from the COG database. Steve | Number of sighting only records | Number of breeding records | Total number of records | Percent breeding records | Number of years with records | Number of years with breeding records | Number of years with breeding records as percent of years with records | Species | | | | | | | | Dusky Woodswallow | 5336 | 629 | 5965 | 11% | 32 | 31 | 97% | Masked Woodswallow | 140 | 3 | 143 | 2% | 22 | 3 | 14% | White-browed Woodswallow | 414 | 89 | 503 | 18% | 28 | 13 | 46% |
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Martin Butterfield
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Martin Butterfield |
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