Hi,
Back in the 80's we were at Round Hill NR. and early afternoon one
day we decided to walk around and over the "round hil;" small though
it is!
At one point I called the others, (Alan Dampney, Jim Francis, et al.)
over to look at the strange barred vent in the small eucalyptus less
than a metre above me!
Bear in mind (http://tinyurl.com/9ptkxd ) it's about 35˚C and we're
on the edge of very dry mallee country with little water around.
Seemed a strange place for a Baillon's Crake!
Best
Alan
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Alan McBride
Birding Guide +
http://web.me.com/amcbride1
Be green and read from the screen
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On 29/12/2008, at 22:05 , Dr Richard Nowotny wrote:
By way of background:
1. There is a large waterside sculpture ("urban art") in Melbourne
Docklands consisting of a stylized cow up an equally stylized tree.
It goes
by the catchy but somewhat unimaginative title of "Cow up a Tree".
2. I visited Herdsman Lake in the western suburbs of Perth last Tuesday
morning (30/12) and to my surprise saw 5 Spotless Crakes at 3 different
locations (first a swimming pair from the boardwalk, and then 3 separate
single sightings around the lake edge). This was surprising in part
because
on 15 previous visits at which I have kept records since April 2005 I
have
seen no crakes at all (although Buff-banded Rail is not uncommon). [I am
aware that crakes are certainly present (other birders' records,
presence of
calls, regular sightings at nearby Lake Monger, etc) but I have not
previously managed to see any there - this in spite of a bird-list
for the
site which has now reached 87 species - and was 64 species last
Tuesday.]
However, what was most surprising was that the sighting of the fifth
Spotless Crake was of a bird flying out of a small lake-side Swamp
Paperbark
(Melaleuca rhaphiophylla) into a larger WA Flooded Gum (E. rudis)
where it
perched on a small branch around 6 metres off the ground for a few
minutes
(hence "Crake up a Tree") until I inadvertently disturbed it,
whereupon it
flew a short distance into a second small Swamp Paperbark (perhaps 2
metres
tall) and then disappeared - into the thick grass around its base I
presume
(I could find no sign of the bird on quite close inspection of the
tree and
its immediate surrounds). I have never before seen a crake of any type
anywhere in the world in a tree, let alone perching high in a
eucalypt like
a song-bird. Has anyone else seen this entirely unexpected behaviour?
Is it
reported in HANZAB, HBW or elsewhere? (I'm presently on holiday and
don't
have access to my library. I could find no reference to such
behaviour on
the Web - for Spotless Crake specifically.)
Richard Nowotny
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