On the weekend I was down at Geelong (Victoria) visiting family, and took
the opportunity to go for a wander at Bannockburn Reserve - a circa 300
hectare remnant of woodland about 20km west of Geelong. Much of the area is
covered in Yellow Gum (Eucalyptus leucoxylon) woodland, and the flowering is
well under way. The sheer din of honeyeaters and lorikeets in some parts
was deafening. Most prominent were New Holland, White-plumed and
White-naped Honeyeaters, Red Wattlebird and Purple-crowned Lorikeet. The
regionally rare Black-chinned Honeyeater was there too - I even saw one bird
probing fallen Yellow Gum flowers on the ground.
The real highlight though was Swift Parrot. Two groups of Swift Parrots
(one of 6, one of 7 = 13 in all) feeding in flowering Golden Wattles (Acacia
pycnantha) beneath flowering Yellow Gums. As the honeyeaters and lorikeets
(see species list) fed noisily on the Yellow Gum blossoms, Swift Parrots and
Crimson Rosellas worked over the Golden Wattle blossoms in the middle
storey. Allowing approaches as close as about 5m, the Swift Parrots'
foraging particulars were easy to see in detail with the Swarovski SLC 10x42
WB binoculars. They were concentrating on the as-yet-unopened wattle
blooms; clambering through the branches and ignoring the open flowers.
Picking off about one unopened bloom every 3-5 seconds, mandibulating it
furiously and then spitting out the pulp, they walked and flew through the
middle storey, occasionally vocalising but mostly very quiet. This is a
good record for this small remnant, and shows just how important such
isolates can be for rare birds as well as more ubiquitous ones.
Surveys: 22/07/2001
****************************************************************************
***
Fref: BANN42 Obs: 7808 Dates: 21/07/2001 - / / Site: BANN
Survey: A500 Time: 60 Area: 10
//ST=1515;ET=1630;NO=1;FL;
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Country: 36.031 Locality: Bannockburn Reserve, Victoria
Habitat: Woodland C1/2:GL /6
Lat: 38 2 16 S Long: 144 8 7 E A Accuracy: 100 Altitude: 100 M LR:
//GP;
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
CODE--- Count Age S St Br T R Species
8205.0 13E S Swift Parrot
8153.0 20E S Purple-crowned Lorikeet
8151.0 2 S Musk Lorikeet
8184.0 S Eastern Rosella
8181.0 S Crimson Rosella
8544.0 S Spotted Pardalote
8431.0 S Crested Shrike-tit
8483.0 S Yellow-faced Honeyeater
8511.0 S New Holland Honeyeater
8486.0 S White-plumed Honeyeater
8497.0 S White-naped Honeyeater
8496.0 S Brown-headed Honeyeater
8500.0 S Black-chinned Honeyeater
8533.0 S Red Wattlebird
8538.0 S Silvereye
8286.0 S Magpie-lark
8277.0 S Australian Magpie
8287.0 S White-winged Chough
8255.0 S Little Raven
8059.0 1 S Whistling Kite
8406.0 S Grey Fantail
8444.0 S Grey Shrike-thrush
8160.0 S Galah
8162.0 S Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
8188.0 S Red-rumped Parrot
8426.0 S Eastern Yellow Robin
761.1 S Common Blackbird
8404.0 S Willie Wagtail
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
L A W R I E C O N O L E
2/37 Myrnong Crescent, Ascot Vale, Victoria 3032 AUSTRALIA.
Phone AH (03) 9370 3928; BH (03) 9510 5750; Mobile (0419) 588 993.
E-mail: <>
Web page: http://www.bluep.com/~oco/
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