Hi Birders
There once was a time when I thought that Scarlet Honeyeaters were summer
migrants to the Sydney/Central Coast Region. But that was before I moved to
the Central Coast and came to live near patches of Swamp Mahogany which
flower in Autumn & winter, generally from April to August, and found that
Scarlet Honeyeaters where a major nectar feeder of them.
When the Swamp Mahogany finishes flowering the Forest Red Gums come in to
flower July-Sep, the Bottle Brushes flower mainly August-November, various
other trees flower Sep-Dec including Blue Gum, the Blackbutt Flower Dec-Mar,
and the Bloodwood flowers Feb-Apr, and the Spotted Gum Mar-Jul. Scarlet
Honeyeaters feed in all these trees and so I found that they are present
here all year round although the numbers may vary.
Like Edwin, I also became more in tune with their calls, and their winter
calls, are only short, sharp, high pitch contact calls which previously I
overlooked or thought that they were something else. These calls are
possibly inaudible to most men over 50, and probably to older women, and so
the bird can be present but overlooked.
Certainly it is not a migrant.
Alan Morris
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