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Having lived and birded at both Redcliffe and
Maleny, and knowing Julian and Fran (though not Bob Inglis) i feel both
compelled and obliged to add some of my sighting records to the "great
drongo debate".I have lived at Maleny since Dec 1994, and am located no
more than 4 km west of Frances Guard, though deeper into the Blackall Range (our
co-ordinates are 26 43 59S, 152 50 53E) . My records are very similiar to Fran's
.Over 5 years, drongos have first appeared in October in every year except
one,1997, when the first sighting was on 20 September.The birds are regular and
highly visible in every month through to April, with the last sightings being in
May('95,'96) and April('97,98,99).They are regular breeders here,with a pair
nesting in a tall euc. over our little bridge for 3 successive years. They have
been successful in two of those years, raising two chicks each time.Not so good
this year, with the more-than-usually flimsy nest not withstanding the summer
downpours.A couple of years ago there were about five nesting pairs within 300
metres.
i also reviewed my Redcliffe records for Sept.'93 to Dec.94 when we moved to
Maleny.They show no sightingsof drongos from Sept.'93 to April'94 . First
sighting was at Redcliffe airport on 7/5/94, then at Duffield Rd. 19/6/94
and3/7/94, and lastly on 9/10/94. I do have at record from Tinchi Tamba wetlands
(over the bridge towards Deagon) for 12/2/94.One year is a very short period, so
these sightings probably mean little, though clearly everyone agrees drongos are
not common on the Peninsula in early to mid summer, and are more evident in the
autumn and winter. The reverse is clearly the case on the Blackall Range,
althoughit is really only winter when they are absent there.Do either Julian or
Bob have any breeding records?
To complete (or confuse?) the picture, I have records of drongos for
:
January--- Elanda Point (coastal,north of Noosa for
southeners)
February---- Gheerulla Falls (Blackall Range, near
Mapleton),Jimna,Peachester,Mt.Barney (none of which are coastal, all of which
have some altitude)
March--------- Nambour,Imbil,Gheerulla Falls,
April------ Goodnight Scrub (near Gin
Gin),Chinchilla,
May--- North Stradbroke
Island (definitely coastal!!!),
June------- Carlo Point,Coolola (both
coastal)
July----- Tingalpa,Coochin
Creek
October--- Landsborough
November-- Boonooroo (Great Sandy Straits)
December--- Jimna,
I guess that all shows that if you look
in enough places you're bound to find a drongo somewhere (and some of us are mad
enough to keep records of it!!!) Maybe Julian,Bob and I could convince the
Redcliffe City Council to instigate the " great drongo hunt" as an
annual event? Hmnn, but when would they hold it????
Stay
light,
Russ Lamb,Maleny
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