FW: [canberrabirds] Bungendore birds 1879, 1882 & 1897, including snipe and 'martins'

[Geoffrey Dabb <>]

With some difficulty due to the loss of the search facility for CBN I managed to find my March 1999 report of the breeding colony at Callum Brae.  Not a briar but a firethorn

 

 

However HANZAB does refer to  nesting in ‘rose Rosa bushes’.  Also grape vines and Citrus trees.

 

From: Martin Butterfield [
Sent: Saturday, 27 January 2018 4:43 PM
To: David McDonald (personal)
Cc: CanberraBirds; Lori Gould; Jeannie Gray; Ian Fraser
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Bungendore birds 1879, 1882 & 1897, including snipe and 'martins'

 

Referring back to your message I have focused more on the word 'new'.  I wonder if that means they were the irregular White-browed Woodswallows - they were also present at Hall when we saw the Dusky nesting but i don't recall any WBWS nesting.

Martin Butterfield

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

 

On 27 January 2018 at 16:40, Martin Butterfield <> wrote:

If there were still trees among the gardens or briars Woodswallows could nest there as exemplified by this Dusky seen at Hall TSR in November 2013.

I've only done one Survey of Gidleigh and while we didn't cover the whole property there didn't seem to be much Snipe habitat there.  But I am aware that back in the day most of the Hoskinstown plain was a marsh so possibly in 1870/80s Gidleigh was a lot wetter.

 

Martin

Martin Butterfield

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

 

On 27 January 2018 at 15:32, David McDonald (personal) <> wrote:

Hedrich, K 2015, Bungendore: from our correspondent: a history from 1835 to 1954, Barrallier, West Geelong.

Quote pp. 454-5
The Goulburn Herald and Chronicle, Monday 29 September 1879
A party of gentlemen went out shooting near Gidleigh last week and got thirty snipe. The wet weather seems to be bringing them back to their old quarters again. [now p. 455]
...
Goulburn Herald, Thursday 27 July 1882
Shooting Party. — A party of gentlemen from the metropolis bent on seeing the end of the shooting season out at Lake George, have managed to bag a considerable amount of game within the last few days; what with swans, ducks of several species, plover, quail, &c., they will have quite a load to return with.

Goulburn Evening Penny Post, Thursday 9 December 1897
BUNGENDORE. (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
THE NEW BIRD. -- The new specimen of the martin species has arrived in large numbers during the last three weeks and the gardens and briars are full of nests, which the youngsters around here are destroying wholesale. It is the first appearance in this locality of these birds, and it is a pity the children do not allow them to brood, as from all accounts they are very destructive on insects and should be protected.
unquote

Has anyone any thoughts about 'The new specimen of the martin species'? Fraser & Gray (2013) record 'martin' as being used only for swallows, woodswallows and what we call martins, none of which nest in large numbers in 'gardens and briars'.

And perhaps I should contact my friends at Gidleigh Station (off the Kings Highway a short distance SE of Bungendore Village) about doing the snipe survey there? It is interesting that the 1879 correspondent attributed the return of the snipe to the wet weather, rather than to a regular pattern of annual migration of Latham's Snipe. Or perhaps the snipe were of the Painted species, attracted by wet weather in that region that year?

Cheers - David

-- 

David McDonald

1004 Norton Road

Wamboin NSW 2620

Australia

T: (02) 6238 3706

M: 0416 231 890

F: (02) 9475 4274

E: