Prue and I did our first woodland survey for the year in mild, partly cloudy conditions this morning. After a slow start, dominated by Noisy Miners, it turned out to be an excellent mornings birding, with
several fairly unusual records for the reserve. 55 species were recorded, compared with 44 for the equivalent survey last year, with 41 found during 10 minutes counts.
A Pied Butcherbird was heard at site 7, my third record in the reserve in the last few months, a species that appears to be increasing in the ACT. A Rainbow Lorikeet was heard at site 8, just our second record,
still a rare bird in this part of Canberra. At a dam between sites 1 and 8 there was a lot of activity, highlighted by a Diamond Firetail, 2 Southern Whitefaces and a Speckled Warbler. Site 7 had quite a few small birds in it, but shortly after we had finished
our count a larger mob arrived, dominated by Striated Pardalotes (100+), Silvereyes (50+), Grey Fantails (40+), Spotted Pardalotes (10+), Golden Whistlers (10+) with small numbers of other species such as Scarlet Robin, Rufous Whistler, Weebill, Yellow-rumped
Thornbill, Eastern Spinebill and Varied Sittella, quite a frenzy . A few groups of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters passed through during the morning, with a handful of White-naped. Silvereyes were also on the move.
Elsewhere there were 8 Varied Sittellas at site 1, an Owlet-Nightjar calling at site 3, Scarlet Robins seen & heard in several places, 2 Wedge-tailed Eagles causing widespread panic, and a Brown Falcon. Only
a few species of summer migrant were found - Rufous Whistler (2), Noisy Friarbird (1), Tree Martin (1), Western Gerygone (1) and Olive-backed Oriole (1).
