Hi All
Went to Cape du Couedic today - Flinders Chase NP on SW tip of Kangaroo
Island, South Australia- and had a brief opportunity to look for Antarctic
Terns. Unfortunately a strong NW wind resulted in very few terns being seen.
A few Crested Terns and four White-fronted being sum total of terns seen
near Arch, although there might have been a return of more after I left as
the small number of terns I saw came in to roost just as I was about to
leave. I was leading a nature tour at the time and was locked into moving on
to other places etc before I really wanted to - I will try to get back there
asap and spend whole day there to get a better idea of what is going on. No
reports of Antarctic terns for week or two now. Not sure if I have missed
anything though on this front as have been away on mainland all last week.
Will keep you all posted of future observations.
Native species I have observed nesting this winter/spring on our 20 acres
known as "Panorama Park", 25 km WNW of Kingscote, Kangaroo Island comprise:
Grey Shrike-thrush, Striated Pardalote, Brown Thornbill, Laughing
Kookaburra, Australian Magpie, Little Raven, Superb Fairy-wren, Striated
Thornbill, White-browed (Spotted) Scrub-wren, Welcome Swallow, Tree Martin,
Dusky Woodswallow, Willie Wagtail, Grey Fantail, Galah, Scarlet Robin,
Crimson Rosella and Red Wattlebird. Fan-tailed, Horsfield's Bronze and
Golden Bronze Cuckoo are all here and calling frequently throughout the day.
Honeyeaters such as Crescent, New Holland, Purple-gaped, White-eared,
Eastern Spinebill and Brown-headed are all here and possibly nesting
somewhere but have not observed them breeding so far this spring. Those
breeding just outside our boundary include Bush Stone-curlew, Masked and
Banded Lapwing, Australasian Grebe and Australian Shelduck. Our house is
nestled alongside tall dry sclerophyll forest mainly comprising 20 m high
Sugar Gums Euc. cladocalyx. Also, Pink Gum E. fasciculosa, Coastal Mallee E.
diversifolia, Peppermint Box E. odorata, KI Narrow-leaf Mallee E.
cnereofolia, with dominant understory species comprising Acacia paradoxa,
Xanthorhoea, Thryptomene ericaea and Melaleuca uncinata (Broombush). Our 10
acres of pasture (previously farmland) is being planted out with native
vegetation. At this time several 1,000s of eucalypts (Pink Gum, SA Blue Gum
E. leucoxylon, Mallee spp, Swamp Gum E. ovata, Messmate E. obliqua, Brown
Stringybark E. baxteri, Cup Gum E. cosmophylla, Drooping Sheoak
Allocasuarina verticillata (for endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo) and
Broombush are well underway to forming the forest/bushland we are aiming to
create. Planting continues each autumn. We have been at this place for 7
years now. Previous to this, I spent most of my life living on W KI (Soldier
Settlement farm and then as a ranger at Flinders Chase NP).
Cheers
Chris Baxter
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www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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