Gloria,
I finally caught up with all the birding-aus postings over the Christmas
break. My apologies for the delay answering yours. You wrote:-
> OK, who else has Grey-crowned Babblers in their garden? About 10
> metres from the house.
We do! What a treat it is to have them visit our bird bath also. My
parents moved to this area (Bellmere) of Caboolture some 15/16 years
ago, before we became birdwatchers. We remember watching these birds
along the roads when we came to visit in the early years and then seeing
them in their garden. We bought this 2 acre block back in 1985 and
finally built and moved in Nov 88. I was always jealous that the
Babblers went to Mums which is about one and a half kilometres away in a
direct line. Then in early June 1991 two birds turned up in our garden
but were never seen in the garden for the rest of that year.
In Feb 92 two more birds visited the garden, then nothing until the
first week of Dec 92 when three were sighted flying over. The second
week of Dec the number had exploded to ten birds and from then on we
have had the babblers visit us just about every week. It was not until
you mentioned them that I looked back through my records and was
surprised that we have had them around all these years.
I have been a bit concerned the last month or so because the usual
twelve birds that have been visiting suddenly dropped to four in
September 99 and for Dec 99 we have been down to two! I have been
asking myself why this is so? Have these two split from the main group
to make a life for themselves? Has some catastrophe befallen the
others? Much to my relief I spotted a larger group a couple of
kilometres away the other week.
While looking through my records I have noted that a few times during
the years we have listed a visit by only two birds. The following years
showed some fluctuations in numbers on the odd occasions but numbers
gradually increased to twleve birds. I have been trying to find any
information which might throw a light on the subject. I recall hearing
someone mention Babblers also purloin other birds like WW Chough do.
Does anyone know if this is correct?
I can at least be thankful that the two birds are still around and
visited the garden this morning.
Linda Cross
Bellmere
SEQ
27.05.00S 152.54.59E
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