Thanks Sean, yes it is typical migration behaviour, especially in the afternoon when the movement slows down.
They also do consolidate as the fly E, including at points where the route becomes more difficult due to the lack of trees etc. This used to happen many years ago at Point Hut before the housing (it’s no longer a main route now), they
would gather in very large numbers in the poplars/willows and have several tries before they had sufficient momentum to fly very high E across the open bare km or so before they got to trees again.
Jack Holland
From: Sean Fitzgerald <>
Sent: Monday, 13 April 2020 11:30 AM
To: Canberra Birds chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Honeyeater migration
We were at Murray's Crossing yesterday (Sunday, 12/04/2020) 1 PM – 2:30 PM. There was a steady stream of honeyeaters flying down from the forests and crossing Paddy's River. They were
in groups of 3 to 20, no more than a minute or two apart. They were flying no more than 100 m before stopping up high in the Eucalyptus and waiting for the rest of their group to catch up. Is this normal migration behaviour? Do they consolidate into larger
flocks as they fly east?
Murray's crossing also had the usual Kookaburra, Magpies, Pewee's, Scrub Wren's and Galah's whilst we were there.
Cheers, Sean
