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Hi Birders,
To add to the conflicting reports about
Yellow-faced Honeyeater migration, I will fill you in on my experiences this
year on the Central Coast. here yellow-faced Honeyaters are resident in small
numbers throughout the coastal forests and woodlands and present in large
numbers from April to August in all habiats, particularly coastal heaths where
they mainly exploiy the Banksia ericafolia heaths and Scribbly Gum
woodlands where B. ericifolia is the dominant understory plant, in
Scribbly Gum & Red Bloodwood woodlands where B. oblongifolia and spinulosa
are the dominant understory plants, in coastal melaleuca swamps and forests
mostly M. quinquinerva, and in the flowering Swamp Mahogany
forests.
Yellow-faced Honeyeater migration
commenced with a bang on 12 April particularly in the northern part of
Wyong Shire (c,.100 km N of Sydney), like Bushells Ridge, Munmorah, Chain Valley
Bay, Swansea and quickly spread both northwards and southwards, by 15 April they
were passing over my house in surburban Chittaway Bay and were still flying over
today! There are as many this time as I can remember. The Swamp Mahogany is
flowering profusely as is the Banksias, and the birds to some extent are moving
back and forth bewteen all these patches as different clumps appear to be
flowering at different times. It was my feelinfg that these birds did not move
up the coast but rather came in from the west, say down from Bucketty so that
these birds could have moved along the Great Dividing range and some where north
of Katoomba, turned east and moved towards the coast as if to now avoid Sydney
urban area.Silvereywes have very very common too.
In the past I have observed large
numbers moving north from Swansea to Belmont, with big concentartions developing
at Coon Island Swansea, waiting to build up courage to fly across the Swansea
channel. The usual Brown Goshawks and Sparrowhawks can often be seen, harrassing
the concentrations and causing flocks to split and reform as they wait to make
the dash over the water!
My information is different to that
of Paul Osborn, located on the western side of Lake Macquarie who said
yesaterday that there had been few Yellow-faced passing through
Cooranabong.
Alan
Morris
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