What
the members of the outing witnessed with the WTTC may not necessarily have been
potential breeding activity. Locally both the WTTC and Brown Treecreepers (not
sure about the Red-browed) often roost in holes, even during daylight hours. I
think one of the reasons that the re-introduction of Brown Treecreepers to
Mulligan’s Flat essentially failed was general lack of old logs on the ground
with hollows and the birds couldn’t find sufficient refuge sites. When I was
helping band Brown Treecreepers in Kama some time ago, you could often see where
the birds had been roosting and the birds would regularly disappear into a hole
that was not a nesting site, sometimes for quite lengthy periods which was a bit
frustrating when you are trying to catch them.
I
sometimes wonder if we are placing too much emphasis on birds IH as a supposed
breeding record.
Mark
From:
Christine [
Sent: Thursday,
21 August 2014 12:56 PM
To: COG List
Subject:
[canberrabirds] White-throated Treecreepers on Mount
Jerrabomberra
As a follow on from
Martin's comments yesterday, I was wondering if anyone can add to our
understanding of the White-throated Treecreeper behaviour we witnessed at Mount
Jerrabomberra yesterday.
We heard the birds
calling (both types of calls), and when we located them they flew around the
general area for a while, both male and female having a food item. They would
sometimes go to the entrance to the tree hollow, but it was only after a few
minutes that the female entered the hollow, but came out still with the moth. On
our return trip we did not see either bird.
