I also noted and mentioned on this line, about having a flock (I put 10 on my
GBS chart, which was as good a guess as I could get) of Yellow Thornbills in my
local park last week (in my message about the Pacific Swifts). I also had 4 in
2 adjoining weeks in August and I would have had them in many of my years here.
Summer attendance in the suburbs is not within trend for them, although numbers
start to increase during late summer.
This from The GBS Report:
Yellow Thornbill Acanthiza nana
This species occurs most often in dense stands of wattles and other shrubby
bushes bordering on open country and river edges, where it feeds in the mid
canopy level. It is the only local thornbill that is generally rare in the
suburban area. It is probably the least conspicuous in behaviour of all the
local thornbills. It can easily be overlooked or mistaken for Weebills or
Striated Thornbills. It is interesting to notice then that it almost only
occurs on the charts of more experienced observers and mostly at sites that
border or are close to Canberra Nature Park. Although recorded each year, it is
the only thornbill with periods of several months with no observations. Even
so, the monthly pattern is rather similar to the other thornbills in dipping to
the lowest levels in late spring. However after that they climb fairly evenly
to a narrow peak in June before declining again. Long-term abundance has varied
greatly, with broad peaks and troughs spreading over several years. Although
given the above considerations, that could easily be an observer artefact. Only
breeding activity is a copulation in March, a nest building in July, and
dependent young in October.
Graphs on page: 98, Rank: 92, Breeding Rank: 65, A = 0.01682, F = 7.99%, W =
20.1, R = 0.906%, G = 1.86.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: John Brannan
Sent: Wednesday, 7 February, 2018 5:19 PM
To:
Subject: Yellow Thornbills in the garden
Hasn’t happened before, but this Summer I’ve had Yellow Thornbills in my back
garden here in Florey twice now — one bird in late November and a group of five
yesterday, plus another one I spotted in my sister-in-law’s garden in Giralang,
also in late November. Presumably this is part of a previously unseen (by me)
dispersal that happens every year?
John Brannan
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