Hi Mark and Tim et al,
Great timing, as I've just returned from seeing a Spotted Bowerbird at North
Rothbury, which is roughly 170km further along the New England Highway towards
the coast (as Tim has just pointed out). To give something of a background,
a local observer (Andrew Zoneff) made a small number of observations of Spotted
Bowerbirds in the vicinity of North Rothbury / Pokolbin last year, including
one
observation of 3 birds together, associating with Satins. They weren't reported
at the time but after he photographed one in his backyard (North Rothbury) a
few
weeks ago and sent me the image, a few keen Hunter birders have been out and
have found the bird(s), Allan Richardson being the first (and it's a great
photo
on Birdline that he took too).
I was looking at one about 2 hours ago!
I have also seen one at Munghorn Gap and Dave Geering saw one at Merriwa in
2003, both which are east of the GDR.
I have never seen any species of Bowerbird at Quirindi but I wouldn't write
Spotted Bowerbird off just yet, especially given that there seems to be a small
population around North Rothbury (and perhaps elsewhere in the Hunter?). There
are some nice 'western' birds not far from Quirindi, like Inland Thornbill,
White-winged Fairy-wren, Blue Bonnet, Ringnecks, Cockatiel etc. I have seen
Apostlebirds on the road between Quirindi and Willow Tree.
Could be worthy of further investigation.
Mick
p.s. - I will forward this to Alan Morris for his comment.
________________________________
From: Tim Dolby <>
To: Mark Stanley <>; ""
<>
Sent: Fri, 6 May, 2011 12:53:28 PM
Subject: Bowerbird at Quirindi, south of Tamworth
Hi Mark,
Just quickly here's what I can ascertain.
In terms of Spotted Bowerbird, I can find a record at Premer, 80 km west of
Quirindi, and at Split Rock Reservoir, 100 km northwest of Quirindi. The
closest
established populations is at Leard State Forest and Mt Kaputar National Park,
120 km northwest of Quirindi. However interestingly just a couple of weeks ago
a
Spotted Bowerbird was seen in the urban streets of Rothbury by Allan Richardson
(4/10/2011) and then again by Steve Roderick (4/30/2011). See a NSW Birdline
report at http://www.eremaea.com/BirdlineRecentSightings.aspx?Birdline=2 and
scroll down to #17296.A remarkable record, this 170 km southeast of Quirindi,
and just 50 km from Newcastle.
In terms of Satin Bowerbird, they have been recorded in Quirindi once before,
as
well as nearby at Wallabadah, 15 km east of Quirindi, and they are resident at
Murrurundi, 35 km to the southeast.
Going by this, my guess is that your bird was a female Satin Bowerbird.
Cheers,
Tim Dolby
________________________________________
From:
on behalf of Mark Stanley
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 9:33 PM
To:
Subject: Bowerbird at Quirindi, south of Tamworth
While driving into Quirindi from the New England Highway, I saw what I saw a
bowerbird land beside, then fly into an orange-berried bush in a garden.
Bins were'nt handy and anyway was driving to a meeting with no time to stop.
At a glance it looked a bit like a pale Western Bowerbird with which I'm
familiar so I assumed it was a Spotted Bowerbird. But Birdata shows Quirindi
a bit outside its range but just inside the Satin Bowerbird range so am now
assuming it was probably a female of the latter species. Would anyone
familiar with birds in the area care to comment?
--
Mark Stanley
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