Hello birders,
I'm pleased to say that I've been out and about so much recently that I've
hardly had the time to post what I've been seeing around the Blue Mountains
(west of Sydney, NSW).
Over the past few weeks I've been noticing an influx of Brown Falcons
throughout the mountains. This species is normally rarely seen in the
densely wooded habitats of the Blue Mountains plateau. I first noticed them
last month. On 20th October while fires were burning in the Grose Valley
area, I saw the first one beside the Bell's Line of Road. Another observer
reported one at Woodford during October. Then on 9th November, I saw two on
Kings Tableland. On the 18th of this month they seemed to be everywhere I
went, including Kings Tableland, Hassan's Walls (Lithgow) and 3 along the
Bell's Line of Road. Another was seen at McMahon's Lookout on the 24th. All
of these locations are places you don't normally see Brown Falcons, and all
were either in or close to burnt areas. There have also been a few more
Black-shouldered Kites than usual, including one flying over my house on
5th November.
Possibly also a sign of the drought, various grassland birds have moved
into unexpected habitats or places where I haven't seen them for a while.
Over the last two months, there have been Richard's Pipits in a small
clearing on Kings Tableland and another at Mt Hay, a Rufous Songlark in
open forest near Mount Wilson, and a Skylark just west of the mountains in
the Kanimbla Valley. We also had several Skylarks at Lake Wallace
(Wallerawang).
Flame Robins are a bird that I have been getting very worried about.
Fifteen years ago I used to see them rather frequently during my walks and
local wanderings, but they have been getting noticeably harder to find over
the years. However, during the past couple of months I've been thrilled to
see them more times than I had during the previous couple of years put
together - has there been a sudden increase in the local population or am I
just going to all the right places again? And, as Flame Robins favour
recently burnt habitat, I wonder if it has something to do with the large
amount of burnt bush (even though my recent sightings haven't been in burnt
areas). It was especially nice to find a pair of these beautiful birds
feeding young in a nest, hidden well in a vertical slit in a tree trunk
near Jenolan Caves while I was leading an ASIT group in mid-October.
There also seem to be more than usual Channel-billed Cuckoos and Brown
Cuckoo-Doves through the mountains this season. Both these species are
becoming more numerous, especially in the upper mountains where they were
once quite uncommon.
My second White-throated Needletails of the season (and the first this
season for the Blue Mountains) were seen last Sunday, a group of about 8
flying over McMahon's Lookout. (My first of the season being during the NSW
Twitchathon, a small number whizzing around us at dusk on 26th October,
west of Coonamble.)
Glossy Black-Cockatoos have given us some spectacular sightings recently.
Just west of the mountains we watched a pair (male and female) arrive and
sit on a branch where they remained for several hours. Three days later I
was back at the same spot, and this time there were three - male, female
and juvenile! It seems very likely that it was the same pair - they arrived
at the same time of day from the same direction, and the female had the
same amount of yellow on the neck. So I wonder, had the young one fledged
during those three days, or had it been "parked" somewhere on the first day
we saw them? (I have seen Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos park their young in
a tree and go off and leave it for hours at a time. Once they left one
outside my house for a whole day!)
We had a great walk yesterday morning at Winmalee, where a gully which was
burnt out during the Christmas fires was alive with birds, including a Grey
Goshawk, Red-browed Treecreepers, and a pair of Leaden Flycatchers
industriously building their nest. Myiagra flycatchers are unusual in that
they will sing from the nest, and this pair complied by singing as they
they sat in and shaped the half built nest.
The dry weather prompted me to put two more birdbaths in my small garden.
One of these is extremely shallow (with the aim of attracting the smaller
birds) and within three days it was being used each afternoon by
White-browed Scrubwrens, Brown Thornbills and a small party of Red-browed
Finches. The other, a blue terracotta saucer, doesn't seem to be favoured
by any birds, but I did notice a couple of Satin Bowerbirds admiring it
from a nearby branch! A bit too heavy to carry back to the bower though!
Cheers
Carol
Carol Probets
Katoomba NSW (where it rained heavily yesterday and there's another storm
building up)
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
