Hi Mick,
The lack of blossom this winter is interesting. Is the development of
extensive blossom a regular event, with only occasional no blossom winters,
or is no blossom the norm?
At Warriewood Wetland, near where I live, the swamp mahogany (E robusta)
blossoms every winter, without fail - but some years are much better than
others. In years of good blossom, we get 4 species of lorikeet - rainbow,
little, musk, and scaly-breasted. So far this year, we have had only
rainbow. It's been cold, and I wonder if this has restricted the blossom.
Best wishes,
Carl
From: Mick Roderick
Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 4:07 PM
To: Carl Weber;
Subject: Werakata SCA and NP - where is the Car Park?
Hi Carl,
The Bedroom is The Car Park! Note that from time to time it could also be
called "The Kitchen", "The Rumpus Room" or even "The Gym"! Rubbish-dumping
is rife in that area, but the birds don't seem to mind one bit.
So you were presumably seeing the same Swifties that we've been seeing there
over the past few days. I had a dozen on Friday though. There is no blossom
here (or in the Hunter Economic Zone, which is east towards Kurri where
Steve and others have had Swifties this past fortnight) but Swift Parrots
still return here nearly every year. I wonder if they will stay on for the
whole winter this year, given that there is virtually no blossom in the
area. Having said that, there are some Stringybarks (undescribed sp., looks
like E. capitellata to me but not to the taxonomists) coming out at the
Kitchener site you visited which is of interest because we have had Regent
Honeyeaters on them in two of the past four winters up here.
It is interesting that there are virtually no lorikeets or Noisy Friarbirds
in the area. This is in stark contrast to last year when we had about
300-400 Swifties in the broader area and at least 100 Regents as well (with
up to 50 at one site). This was of course for the Spotted Gum bonanza, which
also attracted hordes of Grey-headed Flying-foxes as well. When you look at
what happened on the South Coast of NSW last year (>1000 Swifties in Spotted
Gum), it really does drive home just how productive Spotted Gum blossom must
be.
Cheers
Mick
From: Carl Weber <>
To:
Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 12:56 PM
Subject: Werakata SCA and NP - where is the Car Park?
Hi Mick Roderick and all,
Yesterday I went to Werakata. My first site was about 10 km SW of Cessnock,
at Pelton. I turned east from Ellalong Rd into Pelton Rd (a poorly
maintained dirt track), and stopped at an intersection about 500 m in, at a
site where there has been extensive illegal dumping of rubbish. In
particular, there are 4 dumped mattresses and a bed - I call this site The
Bedroom. Here I found a pair of Swift Parrots and a single Little Lorikeet.
My second site was between Kitchener and Abernethy, along the Kearsley South
Fire Trail, to the north of Abernethy Rd. About 200 m in, a bike trail leads
down into a gully, where 2 or 3 cars were dumped many years ago. Here I did
not see any swift parrots or lorikeets. Black-chinned honeyeaters stopped
briefly at the head of the bike trail.
Mick, when you reported some swift parrots on Birdline on Friday, at the car
park at Pelton, were you referring to either of these sites?
Best wishes,
Carl Weber
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