Hi Chris,
There is a lady (whose name escapes me) doing studies through Tas Uni on the
Australasian Bittern, who I'm sure would be pleased to hear of your sightings
in NE Tas. Maybe she'll read this list, or maybe you can contact her through
the Zoology department there.
You make me jealous, with sightings of species there we have rarely seen in 7
years living in Tassie.
Cheers,
John Tongue
Ulverstone, Tas.
On 12/11/2009, at 4:08 PM, Chris Coleborn wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> SPRING TRIP REPORT FOR NORTH/NORTH-EAST TASMANIA 2009 ((B = Breeding)
> Over the last two months I have enjoyed visiting some good birding spots in
> north Tasmania. After exceptionally good winter rain, the spring has been
> magnificent. Tassie is at the moment truly the emerald isle! Spreading
> hillsides of brilliant green and introduced and native trees and shrubs in
> massed floral display. Sunny woodlands with delightful displays of
> wildflowers, I finding the ground orchids particularly fascinating. Shady
> forests with their own understory of flowering shrubs and ferns, mosses and
> fungi. The wetlands, rivers, dams and streams are alive to the sound of water
> music, and shining in the sun, or twinkling in the twilight of the forest.
> While there have been continuing good days of rain, there have also been
> wonderfully sunny and warm golden days, making an outing a sheer delight.
> Some of the highlights of the areas I visited were as follows. I was in the
> Gog Ranges as part of the SWIFT PARROT SURVEY but there were no flowering gum
> and so no parrots. In these rocky woodlands and forests I appreciated seeing
> PINK ROBIN, OLIVE WHISTLER, TASMANIAN SCRUBWREN, DUSKY ROBIN,TASMANIAN &
> BROWN THORNBILL, YELLOW WATTLE BIRD and a good selection of birds. At
> Narawamtapu National Park, while wonderful at dusk for its mammals, I enjoyed
> some common but good to see birds including BRUSH & COMMON BRONZEWING, DUSKY
> WOODSWALLOW, LITTLE WATTLEBIRD, PAINTED BUTTON-QUAIL & the endemic TASMANIAN
> NATIVE HEN, DUSKY ROBIN. The Tamar River Wetlands produced BLACK-FRONTED
> DOTTERELS, LITTLE GRASSBIRD, WHITE-BELLIED SEA-EAGLE, GREY GOSHAWK and a
> range of ducks and other water birds. At Notley Gorge PINK ROBIN, TASMANIAN
> SCRUBWREN, TASMANIAN THORNBILL were enjoyed. The Kate Reed Conservation Park
> on the south of Launceston is always a good birding area, especially along
> the creek side walk. Nesting BROWN GOSHAWK, BEAUTIFUL FIRETAIL FINCH, large
> number of calling STRIATED & SPOTTED PARDALOTE displaying and in beautiful
> colour. Also GOLDEN WHISTLER, BLACK CURRAWONG, GREY CURRAWONG, FLAME, DUSKY &
> SCARLET ROBIN, TASMANIAN NATIVE HEN etc. Gibson Reserve at Epping Forest, a
> remnant midland forest is a wonderful reserve for flora and fauna.
> BLUE-WINGED PARROT, PALLID & FANTAIL CUCKOOCOMMON BRONZEWING & a variety of
> smaller birds including BROWN & YELLOW-RUMPED THORNBILLS. The Ben Lomand
> slopes, if not the summit, are always good for birds. The endemic
> BLACK-HEADED & STRONG-BILLED HONEYEATERS can usually be seen, as they were on
> this occasion. Here also PAINTED BUTTON-QUAIL & SPOTTED QUAIL-THRUSH were
> seen, though they are very elusive birds. I always enjoy Mt Cameron Woodland
> Reserve, the huge sub-specific WEDGE-TAIL EAGLE put in its usual appearance,
> as did BROWN GOSHAWK & COLLARED SPARROWHAWK. As with all the other sites,
> GREEN ROSELLAS were fairly common, as were EASTERN SPINEBILLS & YELLOW-TAILED
> BLACK-COCKATOO. GREY BUTCHERBIRDS AND GREY SHRIKE-THRUSH are common here. The
> AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE, the smallest subspecies in Australia appears to be
> spreading into the North-East. GREY FANTIALS were very common, but it was
> also good to find the SATIN FLYCATCHER on the side of the mountain, as it
> seems to be each year. Sightings of BROWN QUAIL, PAINTED BUTTON-QUAIL & also
> SPOTTED QUAIL-THRUSH were enjoyed. BLUE-WINGED PARROTS, BEAUTIFUL FIRETAIL,
> FAN-TAIL, PALLID AND SHINGING-BRONZE CUCKOO were calling and flitting among
> the woodlands. In the heathland STRIATED FIELDWREN were fairly common. A
> DUSKY ROBIN was startled from its nest, a small cup of fine twigs in the top
> of a tree hollow where a hasty view before a quick departure revealed several
> recently hatched young and a beautiful dark blue/green egg. The coastal
> beaches and salt and fresh water wetlands and heathland surrounds such as
> Waterhouse Wetlands, Little Mussellroe Bay gave good numbers of birds too.
> Included were BANDED LAPWING, CAPE BARREN GEESE, LATHAM'S SNIPE, AUSTRALASIAN
> BITTERN, BLUE-BILLED DUCK, MUSK DUCK, GREAT-CRESTED GREBE, AUSTRALASIAN &
> HOARY-HEADED GREBE, a nesting colony of LITTLE BLACK AND BLACK & WHITE &
> GREAT CORMORANTS, GREAT & RED KNOT, GOLDEN PLOVER, several pairs of PIED
> OYSTERCATCHERS with young and several flocks of HOODED PLOVER with young. A
> small flock of SANDLING & SOOTY OYSTERCATCHER were also seen. I find the
> North-East of the State quite different from most of the rest of the state,
> and well worth a look when visiting Tasmania. (By the way, I Atlas each of
> the areas as I travel through the area.)
>
>
>
>
> The full list of birds seen were: Brown Quail, Common Pheasant, Blue-billed
> Duck B, Musk Duck B, Black Swan B, Cape Barren Goose, Australian Shelduck B,
> Australian Wood Duck B, Mallard B, Pacific Black Duck B, Australasian
> Shoveler, Grey Teal, Chestnut Teal B, Hardhead, Great Crested Grebe,
> Hoary-headed Grebe, Australasian Grebe B, Little Pied Cormorant, Little Black
> Cormorant B, Great Cormorant B, Australian Pelican, White-faced Heron B,
> Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Little Egret, Australasian Bittern, White-belied
> Sea-Eagle, Swamp Harrier, Grown Goshawk B, Grey Goshawk, Collared
> Sparrowhawk, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Brown Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Purple
> Swamphen, Dusky Moorhen, Tasmanian Native-hen B, Eurasian Coot, Painted
> Button-quail, Lantham's Snipe, Eastern Curlew, Marsh Sandpiper, Common
> Greenshank, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Great Knot, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper,
> Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Pied Oystercatcher, Sooty Oystercatcher,
> Pacific Golden Plover, Hooded Plover, Red-capped Plover, Black-fronted
> Dotterel, Banded Lapwing B, Masked Lapwing B, Pacific Gull, Kelp Gull,
> Caspian Tern, Fairy Tern, Crested Tern, Rock Dove, Spotted Turtle-Dove B,
> Common Bronzewing, Brush Bronzewing, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Galah B,
> Long-billed Corella, Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo B, Musk
> Lorikeet, Green Rosella B, Eastern Rosella B, Blue-winged Parrot, Pallid
> Cuckoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Southern Boobook, Masked
> Owl, Tawny Frogmouth, Australian Owlet-nightjar, Laughing Kookaburra, Superb
> Fairy-wren B, Spotted Pardalote B, Striated Pardalote B, Tasmanian Scrubwren,
> Striated Fieldwren B, Brown Thornbill, Tasmanian Thornbill, Yellow-rumped
> Thornbill B, Yellow Wattlebird B, Little Wattlebird, Noisy Miner B,
> Yellow-throated Honeyeater B, Strong-billed Honeyeater, Black-headed
> Honeyeater, Crescent Honeyeater, New Holland Honeyeater, Tawny-crowned
> Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, White-fronted Chat, Scarlet Robin B, Flame
> Robin, Pink Robin, Dusky Robin B, Spotted Quail-thrush, Olive Whistler,
> Golden Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Satin Flycatcher, Grey Fantail,
> Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike B, Dusky Woodswallow B, Grey Butcherbird,
> Australian Magpie, Black Currawong B, Grey Currawong, Forest Raven, Welcome
> Swallow B, Tree Martin B, Australian (Richard's) Pipit, Skylark, Little
> Grassbird, House Sparrow B, European Greenfinch, European Goldfinch B,
> Beautiful Firetail B, Silvereye, Bassian Thrush, Common Blackbird B, Common
> Starling B. (TOTAL 134)
>
>
>
>
> I hope you all enjoy birding this spring.
>
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
>
> Chris Coleborn
> ==============================www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ==============================
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
