I have not been out much. Whilst hanging out clothes today (about 10 minutes), 2 flocks
of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, about a 30 & 10, second flock included one Eastern Spinebill. All fairly normal for an April 10 minutes at
home.
Philip
From: Jean Casburn [
Sent: Sunday, 19 April, 2020 5:06 PM
To: ; 'COG-L'
Cc: 'jandaholland'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Honeyeaters - White-napes at last!!
Yesterday and today small groups of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters passed over Duffy. Also today more than yesterday unidentified groups of birds of similar size to YFHE were passing but not calling. Perhaps these
were White-naped Honeyeater. Too quick for me to identify and without binoculars.
As an aside, during our COG visit to Guthega 10 to 14 February , good numbers of White-naped Honeyeater were heard and seen in the forest from Sawpit Creek down to the Snowy River. Vegetation in the Guthega region
was the best I have seen for many years. So there is still hope.
Jean
From: [
Sent: Sunday, 19 April, 2020 12:55 PM
To: COG-L
Subject: [canberrabirds] Honeyeaters - White-napes at last!!
A good day for honeyeaters over Jerrabomberra yesterday – lots going past throughout the day. Today started well but waned over the morning to infrequent flocks, at times flying rather erratically. I took my camera and stood under the flyway
for about 45 minutes. The first thing I noticed was that the honeyeaters were being harassed by at least three raptors – at least two being Hobbys.
I have just scanned the photos and the results are surprising, given my recent observations. The smaller flocks were, in the main, Yellow-faced. But the larger flocks comprised a high percentage of White-naped, some as high as 85%, but
in the main around 50%. This is, of course, consistent with what should be expected by this stage in a migration. But it has happened suddenly rather than gradually. This is good news as I was beginning to be concerned that the White-naped may have taken a
heavy hit in the bushfires.
Regards
Lindsay Hansch
