Crikey, they must have come back after the rains on Wednesday/Thursday
cos the borrow pits were all dry on Tues/Wed along all roads and Julie
Mclaren at Bowra told us we were two weeks late for them on her place.
We only had a few hundred on the Mitchell Hwy north of Cunnamulla.
We saw all your other sightings and the raptors etc.
Tony et al. ( yes, Al came with us too)
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Neville Schrader
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2008 11:24 AM
To:
Subject: Flock Pigeons - Cunnamulla
For those interested in seeing the Flock Pigeons in the Cunnamulla
district. Having arrived back yesterday from seeing them on Friday
(16th) they are still easy to locate, being observed 50km out on the
Charleville road over 4000 birds. On the Bourke road feeding (2000+) on
the road edge, good close up observations and on the St George road
(50+). I never expected to have them so close I didn't need binoculars.
I was interested to note the interaction between the Flock Pigeon,
Black Falcons and Spotted Harriers. On the approach of Black Falcons
towards the flock they would twist and turn before dropping to the
ground from full flight usually at high speed. The Spotted Harrier would
then approach were the flock had landed and then made numerous drops
into the thick grass, until the flock flushed. Then the process was
repeated with the Black Falcon. Even though I observed this at least a
dozen times over and hour, I never observed any pigeons taken by either
bird of prey.
The pigeons were nervous especially when approaching the waterhole
and would make numerous passes before coming into drink, with many of
the birds actually landing in the water with bill open taking a gulp of
water before taking off, this all happen as other birds whirled overhead
and others landed on the bank before moving down to drink. Overall it
appear to be very confusing and no doubt would appear so to a bird of
prey.
Besides the Flock Pigeons there was large numbers of Little
button-quail and Stubble Quail which would explain the large number of
raptures (and maybe explains why the lack of raptures around Parkes),
besides the two species mentions there was Nankeen Kestrels, Black
Kites, Brown Falcons, Black-shouldered Kites. I was surprised at the
number of raptures killed by the road.
A trip on the Thargomindah road was also worth while with large
numbers of Zebra Finch and I mean thousands of flocks, the most I have
ever seen in a small area. Having Bourke Parrots and Chestnut-breasted
Quail-thrush feeding on the side of the road way was and added bonus as
were the Plum-headed Finches.
Overall it was worth the 680km drive from Parkes
.
Neville W. Schrader OAM
2 Elizabeth St.,
Parkes NSW 2870
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