birding-aus

T & T.

To: Alan McBride <>, Birding Aus <>
Subject: T & T.
From: robert morris <>
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 02:57:15 +0000
Agreed Alan. I saw both species at the T & T sites last year (July 2007) with 
little effort! I saw 3 separate groups of Banded Whitefaces in a 2-3hr period. 
The first group were within 50m of the road. I saw the grasswrens within 200m 
of the carpark, it took a couple of hours.

Kind regards
Rob Morris  Brisbane, Australia > From: > Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 
11:24:27 +1000> To: > CC: > 
Subject: [Birding-Aus] T & T.> > Peter, Don et al> > Being very involved with 
Richard & Sarah on the original sites for T > & T for these birds and having 
visited them both many, many times > since it was written I can assure you both 
of one outstanding bird > fact: you dipped! (sorry:-) )> > The birds are at 
both sites, I saw them last time I went, in October > last year (2007) and I 
have visited them often more than once a year > for the last 15 years!> > 
Banded Whiteface: Yes, they like burnt areas but (and the Erldunda > site bears 
this out well) if you see an area where it looks like > nothing could possibly 
live there, then that will probably hold > Banded Whiteface! This holds true 
for areas I have seen them on > Strzelecki Track too! Admittedly last October 
at Erldunda we spent a > whole day around the site west of the highway walking 
up to 5 km > north south, etc. and didn't see them. The next morning, change of 
> tack, starting across the Stuart Highway on east side, walked in up > to 1 
km, played tape and watch up to 6 birds come screaming in from > the distance 
to the sole tree on the ridge in front of us! Every time > I have visited 
Erldunda, (10 at least, I have seen them). It's the > Quail-thrush I don't see 
every-time there, probably 7 / 10 !!!> > Striated Grasswren: Yes, they are 
there and I have seen them say > every time but one (9/10 say) and that may 
well have been due to the > very hot weather and prolonged drought on one 
visit. They are on the > hill west of the sunset strip parking area and they 
are in the scrub > (not entirely spinifex) area east of the car park. The 
problem for > you now with this eastern side of the site is that Parks have it 
> closed off to stop people walking in to help regeneration. I have > seen them 
from the north east end of the car park, simply by playing > the tape and also 
by walking along the road. Your best bet is very > early morning but I have had 
them through until about 4.00 pm and > also in the middle of the day when 
flying in from ASP. Invariably > they would live in and move through the 
spinifex but are mostly > visible on top of the bushes there when taped. The 
reality is they > haven't gone anywhere else.> > Roost sites for owls will vary 
as long as they have wings and large > territories!> > Guiding available.> > 
Cheers> > Alan> > 
************************************************************************ > *> 
Alan McBride> > Be green and read from the screen> > e-mail: > 
Skype me: mcbird101> Mob: + 61 419 414 860> > This e-mail and any files 
transmitted with it are confidential and > intended solely for the use of the 
individual or entity to which they > are addressed. If you have received this 
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the prior > written consent of the copyright owner.> 
************************************************************************ > *> > 
> On 28 August 2008, Peter Ewin wrote:> > My 2 cents on Using Thomas & Thomas 
for Banded Whiteface and Striated > Grasswren. I may be wrong but I would be 
surprised if either of the > sites mentioned would have been successfully 
"twitched" for these > species in the last 10 years. Both species would appear 
to be > effected by fire history and so any changes since T&T would mean that > 
the habitat now is probably unsuitable. Banded Whiteface would appear > to 
prefer areas that have been burnt in the last few years, so I > would be 
spending time looking in this sort of habitat (should be > obvious from the 
habitat condition) rather than going to any specific > site. I would also 
suggest enough time poking around would eventually > get on to them (last time 
I was at Uluru I saw driving between the > survey sites that I was helping 
with).> The Striated Grasswren is a very different species, probably > 
preferring long unburnt Spinifex, which is getting scarcer in and > around 
Uluru. I have been there twice and looked around the carparks > on both 
occassions with no luck (and as far as I recall it had been > burnt). I also 
have looked around behind the airport which is where > birds apparently have 
been recorded in the past. I talked to some of > the staff (I was helping a 
friend with his PhD so we got into some of > the less accessible parts of the 
the park) and they had very few > records or even potential sites where this 
species had been recorded. > We looked in some interesting habitat east of 
Uluru off the Curtin > Springs road and saw potential footprints but saw no 
birds (and got > no response from call playback).> As a conclusion I would 
suggest you would be very lucky to find > Grasswrens in Uluru and that the T&T 
is probably a bit of a dead end > (if you can stop in some big spinifex then 
you might have a chance).> As I say I may be completely wrong on these theories 
(any comments > appreciated) but as good as T&T is for many species still (and 
I have > been to quite a few of their sites), you can get information on other 
> species that is much more up to date from Birding-Aus (the roost > sites for 
some of the owls would be another example).> Cheers,> Pete> > > > > 
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