A wander this morning

[Martin Butterfield <>]

Harvey

Its good to hear they were there yesterday, and probably means simply that they were elsewhere in the vicinity when I passed by.  A couple of other anecdotes, relating to the visit by me and Barbara Allan on Wednesday morning:

• When we visited there were 3 visible right by the road.  In the same half-day Julienne could locate none.
  
• Earlier in the week another observer (sorry, can't remember who) reported seeing a very stationary seated bird and wondered about breeding.  I also saw this behaviour the following day but when B&M checked there were no sitting birds evident (and we specifically looked for them, where I had seen them).
  

The essential message is to keep checking.  

A somewhat worrying sight this morning, from the view of sitting birds was the half-eaten corpse of a sheep about 300m NE.  Given that said cadaver wasn't there on Wednesday I suspect that fox or wild/feral dog are the likely villains and don't believe they'd pass up feathered white meat if it was available.   

WRT skylarks my records of this area show them to be recorded more or less every month.  I suspect the variation which is apparent is due to the amount of singing they do, together with whether an observer has been through the Plain in a given month.  July/August seems to be the usual start of the singing season which goes through to about January.

Martin

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

On 15 August 2015 at 13:58, Harvey Perkins <> wrote:

Re Banded Lapwings - there were 5 of them there between 14:45 and 15:30 yesterday afternoon. And one in particular looked like it was sitting (on a nest). It stayed put for most of the time I was there, and after getting up for a quick wander it returned to the exact same spot and settled down again.

Also a skylark singing its heart out. I don't know if that is early or not.

Harvey

On 15 August 2015 at 12:07, Martin Butterfield <> wrote:

I decided to go for a drive across the Plain and into Bungendore this morning.  

On Plains rd the most interesting sighting was two corvid nests in the top of Hawthorn bushes.  This was on the straight just South of the causeways.  In view of the location and size of the nests  - birds were in both nests but had left by the time I stopped - I am inclined to regard them as Little Raven nests rather than Australian Ravens (which are nesting about 1km away on Briars Sharrow Rd).  There were also about 40 European Goldfinches feeding on the roadside

Getting round to Hoskinstown Rd the Banded Lapwing site was very quiet, especially WRT Banded Lapwings.  Perhaps it is due to be renamed the "Former Banded Lapwing site"?  

Similarly the two dams on the edge of Bungendore were devoid of Plumed Whistling Ducks (PWD) and very few Australian Shelduck were visible near the cattle feeders on Trucking Yard Lane.  I had a quick squizz at the Bungendore Sewage Works where there were a few each of Shelduck, Hardhead Wood Ducks, Teal and 2 Pink-eared Ducks, but no PWD.

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/