Hi all,
You might recall a couple of years ago something similar happened with
Fuscous Honeyeaters in Victoria, with them practically disappearing from
box-ironbark country, and turning up in numbers near the coast. Hopefully
something similarly strange is going on here.
Regards,
Chris
On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Sean Dooley <> wrote:
> Hi Bob, Jenny and others,
>
> Perhaps many pardalotes could have been lost in the fires but I suspect
> there may be more going on with the lack of pardalote sightings in
> (particularly Central) Victoria. While there has been little flowering of
> eucalypts, particularly in the box-ironbark woodlands due to the drought
> (although I am not sure we can call this a drought anymore as this is the
> thirteenth year of below average rainfall in much of Victoria- thirteen
> years of both El Nino and La Nina weather patterns; we currently are
> supposed to be in a "good" year yet it has been our driest first six months
> in a year ever) more importantly for pardalotes, there has been very little
> lerp activity. Lerp are the sugar-rich casings of insects that bury
> themselves in the leaves of eucalypts, and constitute a major part of a
> pardalote's diet. Interestingly, Swift Parrots have virtually abandoned
> Victoria this year- another species that can feed extensively on lerp.
>
> Whether the pardalotes have moved out of the state or died off, I guess we
> will only know once we have another good, wet year (which feels at the
> moment like we will be waiting for a long time.)
>
> I recently also had a pardalote experience at Long Forest, though not in
> the
> league of Jenny's thousand odd birds. But two weeks ago while there I came
> across a feeding party of 20+ Spotted Pardalote and at least a single
> Striated (probably of the substriatus race). The unusual thing was that
> they
> were all feeding on the ground. I couldn't determine what they were eating
> but suspect that as they weren't feeding in the trees there was no lerp
> about.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Bob Cook
> Sent: Sunday, 5 July 2009 10:31 PM
> To: birding birding-aus
> Cc: 'Marlene Lyell'
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Missing Pardalotes Central Victoria
>
> Hi all
>
>
>
> I am wondering whether anyone else has observed the "disappearance" of
> Pardalotes, both Spotted & Striated, from Central Victoria over the last
> few
> months. Here at Axedale, between Bendigo & Heathcote, Pardalotes have been
> constant residents and active breeders (especially Striated) ever since we
> have been here - now 3 years. We have not seen any Striated since March
> and
> only one or two sightings of Spotted in April. We would regularly see up
> to
> 25 Striated Pardalotes around the house and perhaps 3 rounds of breeding
> (in
> especially placed boxes) during 2008. I am wondering whether it has
> anything to do with either the aftermath of the Vic bushfires, or just
> generally a very dry start to 2009, or what??.
>
>
>
> We are about 30 kms North of the bushfire at Redesdale and 25 kms East of
> the fire in Bendigo, so I don't really see how that could be a reason.
>
>
>
> Has anyone else noticed a significant change in Pardalote presence?? Any
> explanation suggested?
>
>
>
> Bob Cook
>
> Axedale
>
> (now a lot wetter since reasonable rain starting in May)
>
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