A notable record, Brian. There have been occasional sightings around there in recent months, but a nest is a surprise. So far as I know B Thrushes in the Gardens have been assumed to be post-breeding Winter visitors. According to HANZAB breeding NSW/ACT is July-Dec and there is a reference to CBN 1990 (4) where carrying food was recorded in July at ‘Bogong Creek’
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From: Hawkins, Brian [
Sent: Thursday, 17 July 2014 9:29 AM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Bassian Thrush nesting in botanic gardens [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Hello all,
I have recently moved to Canberra and am new to this list. Hopefully the following is of interest.
Last Tuesday I found a Bassian Thrush nest at the botanic gardens, near the swampy Paperbark area. If you’re coming from the carpark, skirt round the downhill side of the cafe, past the Ellis Rowan building, and keep going straight ahead for a couple of minutes – you’ll see the Paperbarks.
I saw one of the adults coming in with food (something wriggly – probably a worm), then heard chicks peeping. When I located the nest a few minutes later, after the adult had gone away, there was a full-sized bird in the nest (the nest is a little over head height, so I could barely glimpse the bird, from below).
At the time, I thought that the bird in the nest must have been a large chick ready to fledge, but I suppose it may have been the other adult. I also observed a broken egg-shell on the ground beneath the nest.
Since finding the nest, I have been back a couple of times (I work at the gardens), but have not seen any birds in the nest again. If it was a large chick that I saw, it may have fledged and left.
Brian Hawkins
