Earlier today, while reading a section of the Weekend Oz at the Sherwood
Arboretum [as one does early on a Sunday morning], I noticed a group of
five corellas on the ground having a feed. One was clearly a
long-billed corella [long bill, distinct throat stripe and facial mask]
while the others all had short bills and varying amounts of red about
their heads and necks. Taking into account that this composite grouping
would be made up of birds that were either avairy escapees or the
descendents of escapees, I was wondering if there were any records of
hybridisation amongst the corella "family".
Another distraction from the paper was provided by a pair of
channel-billed cuckoos who flew about in formation for about 5 minutes.
I don't get to see CBCs on the wing that often [generally trees and
other visual obstacles in the way] and it was interesting to see that it
was the lead cuckoo that was doing most of the calling.
For those of you wondering about conditions at Sherwood, the lakes are
fairly full and the creek is flowing [so not much in the way of crake
and rail attracting mud]. The mangrove boardwalk seems to be coming
along fairly well.
Regards, Laurie.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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