canberrabirds

Better news

To: Rod Mackay <>
Subject: Better news
From: Aussie Herps <>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 20:11:35 +0000
Lizard would most likely be a copper tailed skink (ctenotus taeniolatus)
Cheers

Sent from my iPhone

> On 11 Nov 2019, at 11:50 pm, Rod Mackay <> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From: Rod Mackay <>
> To: Geoffrey Dabb <>
> 
> Also on the better news front .. Inspired by Jack's excellent Sunday morning 
> Nest Workshop I decided late Sunday afternoon to see what Narrabundah Hill 
> had to offer - and despite the strong wind I wasn't disappointed!
> 
> I saw many of the species we encountered during the morning workshop and 
> added two new species to the day's tally. a female Satin Bowerbird and a pair 
> of Jacky Winters - I hadn't seen a JW in the ACT until I saw a pair last 
> Wednesday at Namadgi Visitors Centre so to follow up so quickly with another 
> pair was quite amazing.
> 
> The real highlight was provided as I ambled down from the trig point to the 
> north western corner.  A Grey Butcherbird shot past me low down under the 
> overhanging pines, less than a metre above the ground, rising up out of 
> sight. Before I had the chance to see where it had gone it was back and 
> perched on a fallen branch only about 5 metres from where I was standing.  
> Well, despite the hard times this chap had no need for a little mince 
> flinging!  From somewhere on the log it produced a previously hunted lizard 
> or skink and proceeded to ... I won't go too much into the gory details, 
> suffice to say that in between alternately impaling its prey on a spike, then 
> thrashing it about like a small rag doll it had a hearty meal.  I watched for 
> about 10 minutes when with full bill it took of again and this time I managed 
> to see it rise to a nest about half way up one of the pines. Two eager mouths 
> were quickly fed then it was back to position and tucking in again. Perhaps 
> because of the wind I didn't hear any begging sounds from the chicks.  Over 
> the course of about 25 - 30 minutes this sequence was completed four more 
> times before, having disposed of the last morsel, it took of to sun itself on 
> a branch in the last of the afternoon sunshine.
> 
> Re the lizard. I obviously didn't get a close look, not sure about the length 
> but it seemed  slightly thicker than a finger, with lengthwise (as opposed to 
> banded) black and yellow stripes. Any ideas re species?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Rod
> 
>> On 11/11/2019 12:55 PM, Geoffrey Dabb wrote:
>> In the absence of much in the way of local news I report good progress
>> this morning by the butcherbird family on the Knob.  Three fledglings
>> are huddling together in the green depths of a shrubby oak with a fourth
>> (right) about a metre lower down.  Surely, I thought, given the hard
>> conditions, a justifiable occasion for a little mince-flinging. The
>> mince is lightly rolled on the ground beforehand, which is how they seem
>> to like it.  The adults catch the mince and store it in a fork before
>> relaying fragments to the young.  The upper fledgling has a grip on the
>> bill of a sibling, expressing the view that the grippee has been fed
>> enough for the time being.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> A small bird perched on a tree branch Description automatically generated
>> 
> 
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