and now, GARDEN BIRDS [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

["Baird, Ian" <>]

Denis’ reminder about the King Parrot is interesting, something that I too, had not properly realised. Although when I think about it a bit, KPs only seemed to become common in inner north Canberra from about 15-20 years ago. But my recollection of KPs has always been distorted by a memory fixed as an 11 year old visiting Canberra on a primary school trip from Sydney in 1961. We were visiting the Cotter Dam in a bus which stopped to give everyone a good look at KPs feeding on a hawthorn branch overhanging the edge of the road. It blew me away, being my first sighting of KPs up close and fixed in my mind forever that Canberra was the place to see King Parrots. But that was a sighting ‘out of town’, not in Canberra itself.

Ian Baird

 

From: Denis Wilson [
Sent: Wednesday, 1 June 2016 2:57 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] and now, GARDEN BIRDS

 

Thanks to Geoffrey Dabb for his draft Christmas Card.

 

It reminds me that a number of those birds would not have been on the typical Canberran garden birds lists when my family moved to Canberra in 1959.

... Crested Pigeons were seldom seen east of Harden Murrumburrah back then.

... King Parrots were exceptional, then, in Canberra.

... And Pied Currawongs were then regarded as "vertical migrants", coming in to the suburbs from the tall forests in winter.

 

Denis Wilson (Feeling like a Time Lord today)

On Wednesday, 1 June 2016, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

Still on the subject of the ABR for 2014-2015, the GBS table is always of interest.  The top 12 species might make a suitable Christmas card to send to non-Canberrans later this year.  For the ‘top 12’ I believe the number of sites is the appropriate qualification.  If you use ‘abundance’ you will find the Eurasian Coot is the 12^th ranked garden bird although recorded at only 17.2% of sites and the Silver Gull is 21^st (9.4%).  On the other hand all the below twelve species (not placed in order) were recorded at at least 90% of sites.  You might compare this 12 with the top 12 woodland species, but to interpret the comparison you would need to bear in mind that some ‘garden’ sites take in significant areas of woodland (and wetland, apparently).  Further down the list the Noisy Miner is lurking ominously at 59.4%.  Give me the coots any day.

 

 

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