Gosh, people are getting quite misty-eyed about swifts; but they are
magnificent birds to watch I agree. My point was really only that they
were scarce THIS summer; they're the virtual `rabbits of the air' some
summers, with a cool change every 3-4 days or so to bring 'em in to town &
country. I recall somewhere about 1981/82 being a bumper year, with huge
flocks of thousands of White-throated Needletails and Fork-tailed Swifts
all over S-E Australia. It was also good to hear about Brown Needletails
in Singapore too; more Singapore news please!
Re: the Olive Whistler in a bit of scrub at Braeside, this is the time of
year when such things begin moving around. I've seen them in sububrban
gardens, and dry places like the You Yangs, at this time of year and
during winter. If you think about montane wet forest in winter, any
right-minded organism could be excused for looking for a bit of relief in
a drier, more open habitat. Other things on the move out of wet forest
now around Geelong (* = occur in the Geelong suburbs) include *Rufous
Fantail, *Rose Robin, *Pink Robin, *Grey (White) Goshawk, Crescent
Honeyeater, Little Wattlebird, Satin Bowerbird, *Crimson Rosella and
*Gang-gang Cockatoo.
Cheers -- Lawrie.
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