G'day All,
Last weekend was the BOCA Challenge Bird Count, which is a survey of all
birds and numbers within a 40km radius of a centre point over a 24 hour
period. The Cohuna group of Nth Victoria consisted of John Nankervis, Simon
Starr, John Pople, Betty Waterson, Norman Sheridan, Mavis Skinner, Michael &
Sharon O'Brien, Bill Waller & Chris Coleborn. It was a great time, even
though some had to cut time short and reschedule times because of weddings,
21st birthdays and family sickness. (This is reflected in our bird count
being down this year). One of our group even had the shocking experience of
grabbing an electric fence in her excitement to see a bird on a nest! As you
can imagine that bird and nest is graphically etched on her mind. We are
also admiring the new curl in her hair!
A really good selection of birds were seen, well representative of the North
of Victoria at this time of the year, and representative of sedentary,
regular migratory and the occasional migratory, such as birds from the
inland. We missed out on some we hoped to see and that are in the area, such
as PIED AND BLACK HONEYEATERS, CRIMSON & ORANGE CHATS, COCKATIEL etc which
we have picked up on other years. Some local species expected to be,but not
seen,were BARN OWL, BROWN GOSHAWK, BROLGA etc.
To make up for this lack, we had the privilege of seeing some of the other
special birds of the area such as DOLLARBIRDS, GREY BABBLERS, BUSH STONE
CURLEWS, AZURE KINGFISHER, AUSTRALASIAN BITTERN, PIED BUTCHERBIRD, etc. In
addition, we were really pleased to pick up a couple of extra special ones
for the count such as PAINTED HONEYEATER, PAINTED SNIPE & AUSTRALIAN
PRATINCOLES. We found the PAINTED HONEYEATER, a female, in the Terricks NP.
It only gave a few half hearted calls, but was at Regel's Rock among the
mistletoe on Dean's Wattle bushes and in the same area we picked up several
a year or so ago. (Recently John Boyce also heard one in the Terricks). One
of the interesting observations re the PAINTED HONEYEATER was that it passed
a mistletoe seed and like a Misteltoebird, positioned itself along the
branch on which it was sitting so that the dropping was deposited on the
branch - helping to propagate the parasitic mistletoe. The PAINTED SNIPE was
at Hird Swamp, and several have been seen over the last week or so. There
were two spots where we saw the PRATINCOLES, both beside the road and easily
seen for the vehicles. Both were breeding, one clearly sitting on a nest and
guarded and fed by a mate watching over her.
The full list (145 birds) is attached below: B= Breeding.
Regards,
Chris Coleborn
Emu, Stubble Quail, Musk Duck B, Black Swan B, Australian Shelduck B,
Australian Wood Duck B, Pacific Black Duck, Australasian Shoveler, Grey
Teal, Chestnut Teal, Pink-eared Duck, Hardhead,Mallard, Australasian Grebe
B, Hoary-Headed Grebe, Australian Darter B, Little Pied Cormorant B, Pied
Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant B, Great Cormorant, Australian Pelican,
White-faced Heron, White-necked Heron, Great Egret, Intermediate Egret,
Nankeen Night Heron, Australasian Bittern, Australian White Ibis B,
Straw-necked Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Spoonbill,
Black-shouldered Kite, Black Kite B, Whistling Kite B, White-bellied
Sea-Eagle, Swamp Harrier B, Collared Sparrowhawk, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Brown
Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel, Australian Spotted Crake, Purple
Swamphen B, Dusky Moorhen, Black-tailed Native-hen, Eurasian Coot, Marsh
Sandpiper, Latham's Snipe, Common Greenshank, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed
Sandpiper, Painted Snipe, Bush Stone Curlew B, Black-winged Stilt,
Red-capped Plover, Black-fronted Dotterel, Red-kneed Dotterel, Masked
Lapwing, Australian Pratincole B, Silver Gull, Whiskered Tern, Rock Dove,
Common Bronzewing, Crested Pigeon, Peaceful Dove, Galah, Long-billed
Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Yellow (Crimson) Rosella B, Eastern
Rosella, Australian Ringneck, Red-rumped Parrot B, Fantail Cuckoo, Southern
Boobook, Tawny Frogmouth, Laughing Kookaburra, Azure Kingfisher, Sacred
Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater B, Dollarbird, White-throated Treecreeper,
Brown Treecreeper, Superb Fairy-wren B, White-winged Fairy-wren, Striated
Pardalote, Spotted Pardalote, Weebill, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Southern
Whiteface, White-browed Scrubwren, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Yellow-rumped
Thornbill, Yellow Thornbill, Red Wattlebird, Noisy Friarbird, Little
Friarbird B, Noisy Miner B, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater,
White-plumed Honeyeater, White-fronted Chat, Jacky Winter, Red-capped Robin,
Hooded Robin, White-browed Babbler B, Grey-crowned Babbler, Crested
Shrike-tit, Gilbert's Whistler, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush,
Restless Flycatcher, Magpie-lark B, Willie Wagtail, Grey Fantail,
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-winged Triller, White-breasted Woodswallow
B, White-browed Woodswallow, Dusky Woodswallow, Pied Butcherbird, Australian
Magpie, Australian Raven, Little Raven, White-winged Chough, Singing
Bushlark, Richard's Pipit, House Sparrow, Zebra Finch, Red-browed Finch,
Diamond Firetail B, European Goldfinch, Mistletoebird, White-backed
Swallow, Welcome Swallow, Tree Martin, Fairy Martin, Clamorous Reed-warbler,
Little Grassbird, Rufous Songlark, Brown Songlark, Silvereye, Common
Blackbird, Common Starling.
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