Tahnks for the comments Alan (and Rob earlier)
As I said in the original e-mail I am very happy to be proved wrong. Obviously
the right amount of time and the judicous use of call playback will get you the
species at these sites (though I haven't been to the Erldunda Whiteface site).
The other thing with the Grasswren site is that it is always busy (being in the
sunset carpark). Hopefully others will have better luck than I (though I will
probably look again if I ever get back to Uluru.
However, I would go back to a couple of my original points:
I suspect Banded Whiteface could be found at a lot of other locations with the
right habitat - the T&T site is still a place to start but if you miss it hear
look in other areas and you might just find it.
The staff at Uluru did not think the Grasswrens were still present at the
carpark (and had very little information on this species at all within the
park). I may have talked to the wrong people, but I think they would be very
keen to know of any sites for this species (particularly in regard to fire
management - it would still be sensitive to loss of spinifex habitat).
Thanks once agin for the update.
Cheers,
Peter
CC: ; :
: T & T.Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 11:24:27 +1000To:
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
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Alan McBride
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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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