It's interesting what you find when going back over old field notebooks!
While dredging through one from 1991 I came across a record that struck me
as rather interesting, even though at first I could barely remember the
occasion. At that time I had led a trip by the Fauna Survey Group (of the
Field Naturalist Club of Victoria - FNCV) to Wilsons Promontory National
Park in southern Victoria - we were there to discuss setting up some surveys
for New Holland Mouse. Due to our exalted status as free expert labour we
were permitted to camp out in the bush rather than in one of the official
campgrounds! We camped at Cotters Lake, in the scrub, for a couple of
nights.
The record that caught my eye in the notes was "Pilotbird - 2 birds calling
from ridgeline in the swamp covered in teatree scrub" (the ridge, not the
birds). There are apparently no Pilotbirds on the 'Prom (Vic Wildlife
Atlas), and though possible in that habitat, perhaps not so likely. It does
of course raise the issue of Eastern Bristlebird, which speculation and
tantalising unconfirmed records suggest to have once perhaps been present on
the 'Prom and South Gippsland. George Appleby on this very list in 1998
mentioned having briefly seen a bristlebird-like bird at Cotters Lake. For
some reason it didn't inspire me to investigate further at the time.
My reason for raising this now is that Eastern Bristlebirds are perilously
rare in Victoria, we've recently had a big fire at the 'Prom, and to ask if
there's anything further been added to the speculation about Eastern
Bristlebirds having once been, or persisting, at the 'Prom??
cheers -- Lawrie Conole
Trip list:
COTTERS LAKE, WILSONS PROMONTORY NATIONAL PARK, VICTORIA.
26 - 27 April 1991 (Seabirds on nearby beach, alive &/or beachwashed)
Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae
Short-tailed Shearwater Ardenna tenuirostris
Fluttering Shearwater Puffinus gavia
Little Penguin Eudyptula minor
Australasian Gannet Morus serrator
White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae
Sooty Oystercatcher Haematopus fuliginosus
Hooded Plover Thinornis rubricollis
Pacific Gull Larus pacificus
Silver Gull Croicocephalus novaehollandiae
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus
Galah Eolophus roseicapillus
Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus
Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans
Southern Boobook Ninox boobook
Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae
Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus
?????Eastern Bristlebird/Pilotbird?????
White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis
Striated Thornbill Acanthiza lineata
Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla
Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
Yellow-faced Honeyeater Lichenostomus chrysops
Little Wattlebird Anthochaera chrysoptera
Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata
Tawny-crowned Honeyeater Glyciphila melanops
Crescent Honeyeater Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus
New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae
Eastern Whipbird Psophodes olivaceus
Olive Whistler Pachycephala olivacea
Golden Whistler Pachycephala pectoralis
Grey Shrike-thrush Colluricincla harmonica
Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus
Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen
Grey Currawong Strepera versicolor
Grey Fantail Rhipidura albiscapa
Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys
Forest Raven Corvus tasmanicus
Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca
Jacky Winter Microeca fascinans
Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis
Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena
Bassian Thrush Zoothera lunulata
Common Blackbird Turdus merula
Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Beautiful Firetail Stagonopleura bella
Common Wombat Vombatus ursinus
Eastern Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus
White-striped Freetail-bat Tadarida australis
Fox Vulpes vulpes
Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus
Hog Deer Axis porcinus
Common Eastern Froglet Crinia signifera
Smooth Frog Geocrinia laevis
Brown-striped Frog Limnodynastes peronii
Haswell's Frog Paracrinia haswelli
Brown Tree Frog Litoria ewingii
Verreaux's Tree Frog Litoria verreauxii
Bold-striped Cool-skink Bassiana duperreyi
Common Brown Heteronympha merope
Australian Admiral Vanessa itea
Common Grass-Blue Zizina labradas
61 species
--
++++++++++++
Lawrie Conole
28 Reid Street
Northcote 3070 AUSTRALIA
0419588993
lconole at gmail dot com
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