Thanks Philip, in this particular case my second try came through (at least to me, some others got it earlier) about 8 hours after I sent it, whereas my initial one still hasn’t come through either
to me or on the web site well over 60 hours since I tried to post it.
I had my first Red Wattlebird being fed just outside my GBS site on 26 September. I didn’t think it out of the ordinary as I recalled having earlier ones in the past, though checking the BIRD INFO
on the COG website reveals just 20 dependent young records in September from the 35 years of data, compared with 211 in October (yours was first seen on 2/10). However, 5 of the 20 dy records were from 2017, so there could be some evidence for RWBs starting
to get their broods out earlier, though proving this would require an analysis of the whole 38 years of the COG database (including the GBS), something which is way beyond my capabilities.
Regards
Jack Holland
From: Philip Veerman <>
Sent: Tuesday, 6 October 2020 9:21 PM
To: ;
Subject: RE: [Canberrabirds] FW: My first Koel for the 2020-2021 season
Is it your
second try always seems to go through faster, or like me sometimes and others, we wonder why it has not gone through after a few days and try again, at about the same duration after the lag has caught up and the first one goes through.
Sort of connected, on Friday morning and this morning (whilst waiting for the bus) I encountered the first fledgling Red Wattlebird near home. I believe a repeat of the same one because it was in the same tree. A fledgling Red Wattlebird
at this time is well into the realms of an early breeding, though not unprecedented by any means. The graph of timing of each major stage of breeding is in The GBS Report (page 106). The point is if we have sufficient data to show that breeding times are moving
earlier over the years, it can be suggested link to the birds getting in early to get out broods before the Koels have arrived, or a response to climate change. We really need to update The GBS Report.
Philip
From: [
Sent: Tuesday, 6 October, 2020 8:09 AM
To:
Subject: [Canberrabirds] FW: My first Koel for the 2020-2021 season
Posting again as my original message seems to have gone into the ether (my second try always seems to go through faster). Jack Holland
From: <>
Sent: Sunday, 4 October 2020 5:59 PM
To: <>
Subject: My first Koel for the 2020-2021 season
While walking my dogs this afternoon, a female Eastern Koel flew low close in front of me giving soft
kek kek calls. Luckily it landed in a small tree nearby so I could confirm it before it flew away. This was in the small park at the end of the lane between Themeda and Mentha Places Rivett, an area that has been favoured by Koels in the past, including
when they first arrive.
Apart from Mark Clayton’s post on 25 September I am not aware of any further sightings, there are none I can find on the eBird map so far. However, it is right on time for the first arrivals in the past 2 seasons, also in Rivett (at almost
the same place) in 2018, and Chapman in 2019.
Jack Holland
