Many thanks Peter, for this very interesting observation. As I am not sure whether they would have been strong enough to be able to move from the known breeding site at Thorsby, I have cced Superb Parrot researcher Laura Rayner for her
possible comment.
Agree it’s unusual to see Varied Sittellas feeding on the ground.
Regards
Jack Holland
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of Peter Miller
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2023 9:43 PM
To:
Subject: [Canberrabirds] interesting obs
Hi all,
Following up on Jack's Superbs, I observed 2 young (short tail feathers so presumably quite recently fledged) begging noisily from an adult who was obliging. This was on Mt. Majura, on the road that runs parallel to Mackenzie street on the edge of the reserve.
I've never thought of them as nesting on Majura but perhaps these ones did?
On a totally separate note, I also watched a family group of 6 sitellas feeding on the ground at Campbell park this morning. Possibly they were eating ants?? Anyway, I've never seen them out of trees before so that was also novel for me. Such charming birds-they
always make me smile :)
Cheers,
Peter
On 17/12/2023 9:03 am, jandaholland--- via Canberrabirds wrote:
After keeping a GBS chart for my site in Chapman almost continuously since the start in 1981, it is unusual to have a first record for species, but this morning I first heard Superb Parrots fly into a neighbour’s tree and soon after 2 birds
emerged flying close together towards Cooleman Ridge. This follows 2 seen flying very high (>100 m) towards the ridge a couple of days ago about 400 metres away. Over the years I only have had a few records of this species in Chapman/Rivett, mostly around
Rivett Oval. Jack Holland
