Back on the subject of small birds, I have a pictorial comment (attached). The impact of Noisy Miners on small bird numbers in the suburbs is insufficiently mentioned, in my view. However current numbers of NMs are
fewer than this time last year, again on my observations, based on daily suburban dogwalks in Griffith/Narrabundah. A possible reason is less abundant lerps than last year. In the picture, the flying birds are migrating honeyeaters, certainly among the declining
smaller birds. I used to have regular seasonal waves of them moving through the street eucs. Not any more. Is there less interest in the seasonal migrations? Perhaps just my impression, with the loss of departed colleagues, Jean Casburn and Elizabeth Compston,
who each year, from each end of the main flight path, would draw attention to movements of great numbers through Canberra suburbs.
Small honeyeaters would be among the insectivorous bird species most affected by the general insect decline. However, it seems that species like Yellow-faced Honeyeater seem to occur in such large numbers and are so
poorly monitored that the population as a whole falls within the convenient category ‘declining, but not shown to be threatened’.
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/yellow-faced-honeyeater-caligavis-chrysops#Population
