Hello all,
Last week, 22/10/2000 to 29/10/2000, was Bird Week, so I understand.
My Bird Week activities were mainly constrained to birding in my own backyard
with a couple of quick 'excursions' to the foreshore at Woody Point 'down the
road'.
The week turned out to be one of the more interesting weeks of this year so I
have provided a
list and some notes below.
The backyard list:
(More or less in order of recording.)
Torresian Crow
Australian Magpie
House Sparrow
Common Starling
Rainbow Lorikeet
Spotted Turtle-dove
Grey Butcherbird
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Australian Hobby
Common Myna
Brown Honeyeater
Rock Dove
Magpie-lark
Collared Sparrowhawk
Tree Martin
Masked Lapwing
White-headed Pigeon !!!
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Dollarbird
Galah
Crested Pigeon
Pied Butcherbird
Welcome Swallow
Noisy Miner
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Australian White Ibis
Little Black Cormorant
White-faced Heron
Figbird
Laughing Kookaburra
Silvereye
Scarlet Honeyeater
White-throated Needletail
Little Corella
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
pos. Pallid Cuckoo (perhaps just fledged)
A total of 35 species.(plus one poss.)
Backyard Notes:
Pigeons/Doves:
The highlight of the week was the White-headed Pigeon that appeared in the
Camphor Laurel tree next door and, briefly, actually in my yard.
This is my first record of this species for my 'backyard' list.
The bird was seen on two days, Monday 23nd and Tuesday 24th.
It was probably a female (or perhaps a juvenile going into adult plumage; there
appeared to be a fair amount of 'moult' around the neck. Do juveniles go through
a moult like this?).
Honeyeaters:
The recent irruptions of Scarlet Honeyeater and Noisy Friarbird seemed to
have subsided.
Whereas over the previous few weeks both those species were obvious in large
numbers they were both obvious by their absence this particular week.
No records of Noisy Friarbird and only two Scarlet Honeyeaters recorded on
Friday 27th.
Little Wattlebird was not recorded either so it has probably gone again.
Brown Honeyeaters don't seem to be as prolific as last year.
Raptors:
The Collared Sparrowhawk made a couple of brief flying visits on Sunday 22nd and
Thursday 26th.
An Australian Hobby made a single pass over my house at 5:45 am Sunday 22nd;
yes, I sometimes am standing outside my backdoor with a cup of tea in hand as I
observe at that time of the day.
Parrots/Cockatoos:
Although I haven't listed Scaly-breasted Lorikeet for the week, they were
probably around; they usually are but I am wary about identifying them from call
and they are in much smaller numbers than the dominant Rainbow lorikeets
Both Little Corella and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo made once-only appearances
after a number of weeks absence.
Swallows/Martins/Swifts:
Welcome Swallow and Tree Martin numbers
seem to have dropped off significantly over the past couple of years.
Welcome Swallow (1) was only recorded on Tuesday 24th while Tree Martin was
recorded on 2 or three days in small numbers.
White-throated Needletails were recorded at 7:40 am Saturday 28th in a perfectly
clear sky.
Small numbers (perhaps tens rather than hundreds) remained in the area
throughout the morning as clouds began to gather.
The Needletails left the area before midday.
Cuckoos:
The Channel-billed Cuckoo was heard for the first (and only) time at approx 7:40
am Thursday 26th.
I generally only hear this species two or three times a year and usually very
early in the morning.
No record of Common Koel during the week.
This species was recorded each of the last 6 years during this same week.
Late-afternoon on Saturday 28th my attention was attracted by a strange rasping,
persistent call from 'out the back'.
In the failing light I finally managed to observe (unfortunately without my
binoculars) a strange looking bird high in the Camphor Laurel tree next door.
By the time I located my binoculars and video camera the bird had gone and all
was quiet again.
The impression I got was that it looked how I would imagine a just-fledged
Pallid Cuckoo would look.
But not having seen a just-fledged Pallid Cuckoo before I would only be
guessing.
The bird looked somewhat like the juvenile Pallid Cuckoo in HANZAB but 'rougher'
looking and possibly with shorter tail feathers
Waterbirds:
The creek a short distance to the west of my property (Bell's Creek) and the
nearby park/playing fields attract a number of water birds which sometimes fly
over my property.
This particular week there was Australian White Ibis and White-faced Heron.
A 'V' of 20+ Little Black Cormorants was observed several hundred metres to the
south flying above
the line of the shore of Bramble Bay.
Dollarbird:
Numbers of Dollarbird ranged from none on some days to a total of 5 together on
each of Thursday 26th and Friday 27th.
This is the greatest number of Dollarbirds I have ever seen together at any
time.
Woody Point shorebird notes:
23 (Australian) Pied Oystercatchers recorded in front of the Woody Point Yacht
Club on Thursday 26th.
Also in the same spot at the same time were small numbers of Curlew Sandpipers,
Bar-tailed Godwits and Ruddy Turnstones.
And a couple of Crested terns as well as the obligatory Silver Gulls.
On Friday 28th I spent a little time practicing with my video camera in an area
approx 100 metres east of the Woody Point Jetty (Woody Point is on the Redcliffe
Peninsula just north of Brisbane).
Subsequent viewing of the video tape produced a 'suspect' sandpiper in a flock
of Curlew Sandpipers.
I have placed some images of that bird, taken from frames of the video tape, on
a
page of my web site.
To view these images go to: http://www.powerup.com.au/~inglisrc/mystery_bird.htm
So...... for me Bird Week can happen with the minimum of effort and expense.....
in my own backyard or down the road at the beach.
Perhaps it can happen as easily for you?
But then..... isn't every week Bird Week?
Good birding,
Bob Inglis
Woody point SEQld,
27 deg 15min S; 153 deg 5 min E
E-mail:
WWW: http://www.powerup.com.au/~inglisrc
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