So I’ve spent a little time going through my 20-year sightings diary, & find
that (leaving aside the occasionals or uncommons) there are more common /
resident spp. whose decline I have not mentioned yet. These are – Whipbird,
quail & button-quail spp., Bush Stone-Curlew, Grey Shrike-Thrush, Magpie-Lark
(seasonal), as well as the spp. noted earlier & those below.
In the 20 years there has been little change in local habitat, though I would
say that the human population has increased as more people have put houses on
their land. Also there are more cars passing through, & noise has increased.
This is post-dairy country, interspersed with post(historic)-logging bush
fragments. Much of the open land (including my own place) has increased trees,
groundcover &/ understory.
Climate has varied.
Judith
SEQ 500m
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Judith L-A <>
> Date: 18 April 2018 at 5:05:36 pm AEST
> To:
> Subject: Re: small birds
>
> PS: & Drongos & Dollarbirds, which I keep failing to mention. A very
> noticeable new scarcity here too is the Pheasant Coucal, whose calls used to
> reverberate all day long (along with the Koels’), all through the summer…
> Each year now the stillness grows exponentially.
>
> Judith
> SEQ 500m
>
>> On 18 Apr 2018, at 12:24 pm, Judith L-A <> wrote:
>>
>> Yes, the small birds are struggling with the conditions, here too. With
>> shifts in the seasons, all species up to & incl. wattlebird-sized birds have
>> diminished. Disappearing for long periods of intensified or unseasonal
>> weather, they return only in single pairs, if at all, so far, with only the
>> previously most common / residents reappearing in the gaps between weather
>> events. This was first obvious with the great flock of Rainbow Lorikeets
>> that had built up nearby – It has been several years since ex-TC Debbie
>> removed the colony, & the birds only began appearing in small numbers again
>> recently. On the smaller scale, the other most common residents that are
>> scarce presently are Lewin’s H/e, Brown Thornbill, White-b Scrubwren. Two
>> butcherbird spp. alternate seasonally here usually, but are both scarce just
>> now. Even the kookaburras, frogmouths, figbirds are diminished … I won’t go
>> on except to say that the seasonal or occasional species are now absent (or
>> rare at best) – e.g. N.Friarbirds, Spinebills & Scarlet H/e; G.Fantails,
>> W.Wagtails; pardalotes; cuckoos & swifts; Crimson Rosella, Galah, & other
>> parrots –
>>
>> Judith
>> SEQ 500m
>>
>>
>>
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