birding-aus

Collared Sparrowhawks vs Pied Currawongs

To: Greg <>
Subject: Collared Sparrowhawks vs Pied Currawongs
From: Paul Jacobson <>
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:17:07 +1000
Hi Greg,

Thanks for forwarding on Stephen's comments.

We haven't seen any evidence of nesting. Stephen's book notes that the breeding season is between July and December, however Simpson and Day indicate that the breeding season is variable and can be between April and December with "casual" breeding occuring in January to March, so I suppose there is no reason to rule nesting out as a causal factor. I believe that the birds are in first year plumage, although that wouldn't necessarily rule out breeding .

As I mentioned in my email, there were three CSH's involved which also seems to be at odds with the observation in Stephen's book that the CSH "is a solitary, secretive, hawk". I suppose there is no real contradiction between being solitary and a number of inidviduals existing in a relatively small area - we often see a single CSH chasing red wattle birds and common myna.

I had an opportunity to check the relevant volume of HANZAB and there is actually mention of mutal aggression between Collared Sparrowhawks and Pied Currawongs so this kind of behaviour isn't out of the norm. I'd be curious to find out if it is normally linked with nesting or occurs when the species occupy the same area.

I haven't seen the interaction of the CSH and PC previously - there are no previous records of Pied Currawong in the area according to the birddata website - but we have seen CSH's on a regular basis at this site since the beginning of 2006, so I'm quite interested in this behaviour.

To update the reported numbers of Pied Currawong in Royal Park, Nicole mentioned that she saw 4 Pied Currawong in the grounds of the Royal Melbourne Zoo (close to the main entrance and midway between both previous sightings) on Saturday morning.

cheers
Paul


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