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Flame Robin question

To: "Val Ford" <>, <>
Subject: Flame Robin question
From: "Mike Carter" <>
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 14:06:52 +1000

"Val Ford" <> To: <> said and asked


<I have been carrying out a 3 monthly bird survey on a property at Baxter on the Mornington Peninsula, southern Victoria for the past 12 months. On 2 occasions 24/8/06 (my change from 07 as I don't believe in being able to foresee the future!) and 24/5/07 Flame Robins, red and brown birds, were recorded and in numbers greater than 20. Flame Robin come to the Mornington Peninsula usually late autumn and leave again before the summer. I don't know if it is known if the birds come across from Tasmania or from the Victorian Alps - or a mixture of both. The question - As I usually only see flame robins in ones and twos in other areas did I just happen to see the birds as they were getting ready to leave [24/8] and had just arrived ]24/5] or are they often seen in large numbers?>

From my experience of Flame Robins on several predominantly wetland sites between Mordialloc and Frankston, i.e. near and just north of your Mornington Peninsula Baxter site closer to Melbourne, is that they arrive almost precisely on 1st April. Occasionally but rarely see one last week of March but it would be unusual if not here by first week of April. Numbers are high by early May. So your 24 May date is too late by some three to seven weeks to be influenced by their autumn migration. Conversely, 24 August is close to the end of their stay with us so couldn't be sure what's happening then but I doubt it is a pre-migratory assembly. You don't say how large is the site you are surveying. I suspect it is quite large (well over 100 hectares) and prime habitat for the species. Seaford Wetlands, I guess only some 10-20 km distant, attracts numbers in excess of twenty at one time. HANZAB says there is no conclusive evidence of trans Bass Strait migration. But I still think there could be some passage from Tasmania.

Mike Carter

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