2011/12 season report for White-throated Needletails

G’day Birding-Aus recipients.

Please enjoy this report Cheers

Mike

White-throated Needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus) Report for 2011/12 Season.

The 1300 records I have obtained or that have been sent to me so far are 308 more than received for the previous season. Thank you so much for the extra effort in making & sharing these records.

It appears that we had some over-wintering birds again. These were seen by Alexander Canton at Tyto Wetlands, Ingham (QLD). on 3.7.2011.

The next record was of 50+ birds at Kuranda (QLD) on 12.8.2011 seen by John Cantello. M & S Guppy then saw 3 birds at Maulbrooks Rd, (NSW) on 28.8.2011. Illawarra Birders saw an unspecified number at Mt Keira Reserve (NSW) on 31.8.2011. Then guess what? no one reported any sightings during September. Bob Green saw 3 at Redden Island, near Cairns (QLD) on 2.10.2011. Ron Becker saw the first birds in Victoria when he estimated 40 birds at Genoa on 3.10.2011. No more were reported in Vic until Kerrin & Rosemary Martin saw 15 at Narbethong on 9.11.2011. This is the first time for several years when I have not seen any at Thurra River Rest area on Melbourne Cup weekend.

Then a little surprise came when Kathy Wilk and Richard Baxter reported 2 birds from Christmas Island. This is only the 16th record I have from Christmas Island.

WTNT appeared to be late coming to Victoria but that did not stop Ashwin Rudder from seeing one in Tasmania on 2.12.2011. While we are concentrating on sightings of single birds we might as well mention that Michael Wood saw one on the Cocos Islands 4.12.2011. A few wanderers this year.

The first records I have for the ACT are of 3 birds seen by Alastair Smith on 10.12.2011 and 2 birds seen by Steve Holliday on the same day. Steve made that record last year also.

There were no reported records from the NT this last season. There were 5 records from WA, 9 records from SA, 29 from ACT, 21 from TAS, 217 from Qld, 327 from Vic, & 714 from NSW.

This season the largest group seen was of 2,000 birds recorded by J. Reed in NSW, and there were no other sightings of a thousand or more birds. There were only 4 sightings of 300-1,000 birds.

The average flock size this season was 40 compared to 44 for last year & 48 for the year before. All figures are lower than the mean of 52 for the last decade. Very few observers disagree with me now, when I say that WTNT are in decline.

While 18 of the 25 last sightings were from Victoia only 2 of the last 5 were from Victoria, which is not the norm. The last sighting that I know of was of 3 birds seen by Bruce Richardson on 18.4.2012 at the You Yangs, West of Geelong in Vic.

The top recorder for the season was Irene Allan, making 109 sightings. Bas Henson saw 44 flocks, Paul Jones 41, Len & Jacquie Axen 32, Michael Ramsey 30, Clive Meadows 27, Matthew Stanton 27 & Tom Wilson saw 24 flocks.

Thanks again to all those who have taken the trouble to send me your sightings. It does not matter whether you sent in 1 report or more than 100, they are all useful in helping determine the WTNT population status and defining other aspects of their behaviour.

Contributing Observers: (# of observations given in brackets).

Anon (6), ABBOT, Carol. (2), ADAMS, D. (1), AIREY, Jackson (1), ALCORN, Richard & Margaret (6), ALEXANDER, Peter (22), ALLAN, Irene (109), ALLAN, Robert (4), ALLSOP, John (4), ANTRAM, Frank (2), ARMSTRONG, Chris (1), ARMSTRONG, Justin (2), ATZENI, Mick (6), AXEN, Len & Jacquie (32), BARKLA, John (1), BARNES, Chris. (9), BARTRAM, Kevin (1), BAWDEN, Tim (5), BAXTER, Damian (1), BAXTER, Richard (2), BECKER, Freddie (1), BECKER, Ron (13), BECKER, Tania (1), BENNETT, Mark (5), BENSON, Allan, (3), BENSON, Ian (1), BERGMARK, Joshua (1), BIGG, W (3), BILLING, Noel & Lyn (1), BORTOLUSSI, Greg (1), BOUNDS, Jenny (1), BOYD, Glen (2), BRANDWOOD, Keith (5), BRANNAN, John (1), BRECKENRIDGE, Max (10), BROOKS, Paul (1), BROSIE, Grant (9), BRUCE, Niel (1), BULLEN, Lyn (1), BURCHER, Paul (3), BURKE, Steve (2), BURROWS, Todd (1), BUTTERFIELD, Frances (1) BUTTERFIELD, Martin (4), CAMERON, Margaret (1), CANTELLO, John (1), CAPELL, Nev (1), CARPENTER, John & Carole (8), CATT, Graeme (1), CHAPLIN, Dominic (1), CLANCY, Greg (17), CLARKE, Rohan (4), CLARKE, Tom (2), CLIFFORD, Carl (1), CLOG, Jan (2), COOK, Bob (5), COONEY, Stuart (1), CROSLAND, Michael (1), CROWTHER, Jason (1), DAHLEM, Michael (1), DAVIDSON, Steven (15), DOUGHERTY, Robert (5), DOYLE, Paul (6), DRAKE, Alistair & Carmen (2), DRISCOLL, Colin (2), DUFFY, Janine (1), DUKE, Steve & Judi (1), EARL, Hedley (1), EGGINS, Darryl (2), ENGEL, Deryk (4), FAULKNER, Tim (4), FERGUSON, Alex (2), FINLEY, Eric (2), FISHER, Keith & Lindsay (6), FORD, Trevor, (1) FORD, Val (1), FRAWLEY, Matthew (5), FREDERICK, Dougald (3), FULLER, Mark (4), GALLIENNE, Sandra (4), GARDNER, Rod (1), GIBSON, Tony (2), GILLANDERS, Alan (17), GILMORE, Phil (17), GOODYEAR, Gavin (6), GOTLEY, W & J. (4), GREEN, Bob (2), GREGORY, Chris (3), GREGORY, Phil (1), GUPPY, S & M (2), HAASS, Nickolas (2), HARTSHORN, Angus (5), HAVENS, Maria (3), HAYWOOD, Bryan (2), HEALEY, Chris (20), HEFFERNAN, R. (16), HENSEN, Bastian (44), HERBERT, Liz & Chris (1), HOBSON, Rod (9), HOCKING, Doug (1), HOLLIDAY, Steve (1), HONEYMAN, Mike (2), HOUGHTON, Dave (1), HUNTER Michael (2), HUTCHISON, John (1), JACKETT, Carla & Nigel (3), JAMES, Max (1), JAMIESON, Katrina (3), JARMAN, T (1), JOHNSON, Lorne (4), JOHNSTONE, Richard (3), JONES, Barbara (1), JONES, Geoffrey (1), JONES, Paul (41), KANE, Joy (2), KELLMAN, Kate & Ray (1), KEENE, Tony (1), KERR, Ian (2), KNIGHT, Laurie (4), KOOISTRA, John (1), KUHL, Mike (1), LAMB, Russel (4), LAMBERT, D&G (1), LAND, Pam & John (1), LARMOUR, Kim & Jim (1), LATTAWAY, Judith (10), LEACH, Elliot (1), LEITCH, Judy (2), LENZ, Michael (1), LEONARD, John (3), LEY, Andrew (11), LEY, Mark (3), LIGHTFOOT, Paddy (1), LINDORF, Chris (1), LINDSAY, Kurtis (8), LORD, Rowan (1), LUMNITZER, Åkos (6), MANNIX, Stephen (3), MARSTON, Ray (1), MARTIN, Kerrin & Rosemary (1), MASON, Richard (2), McBRIDE, Alan (7), McBRIDE, Steve (10), McCASKILL, Duncan (1), McCONNELL, Kath (2), McCONNELL, Pat (3), McDOUGALL, Andrew (1), McKENZIE, Kim (1), McLACHLAN, Greg (5), MEADOWS Clive (27), MILLER, Richard (2), MOFFATT, Bob (4), MOLLER, Carl (1), MOLONEY, Peter (6), MOORHEAD, Bill (4), MOORHEAD, Jack (1), MORRIS, Alan (16), MORRIS, Tim (19), MORRISON, N&J (3), MURPHY, Fran (6), MURPHY, Steve (5), MUTTON, Troy (2), NEALON, Clive (1), NEUMANN, Julie (2), NEWLING, Greg (1), NEWTON, Helen (1), NICKHOLDS, Tim (1), NICOL, Sue (1), NIXON, Ted (3), NORDSTROM, Terrill (1), NORRIS, Ken (6), O’BRIEN, Martin (1), O’MALLEY, Pat (4), O’WHEEL, Jeremy (1), OAKLEY, Greg (2), OLDE, Graham (12), OOREBEEK, Margot & Ray (2), PALMER, Des (4), PARK, Geoff, (2), PENDAVINGH, Daniel (1), POINTER, Kaye (4), POINTER, Margaret (3), POINTER, Ross (3), PORT, Christina (1), PRESTON, Ivor (2), PRICE, Robyn (1), PROBETS, Carol (6), RAMSEY, Michael (30), RANKIN, Jai (4), RASMUSSEN, Bruce & Ann (1), RAWLINSON John (6), REDHEAD, David (1), REED, J. (5), REID, Colin (8), RICHARDSON, Allan (1), RICHARDSON, Bruce (1), RIJZ, Matt (4), RODERICK, Mick (3) RODERICK, Steve (1), ROMANE, S. (2), ROPER, Marion (7), ROSS, Chris (2), ROSS, Sonja (2), RUDDER, Ashwin (2), RUNGE, Claire (1), RUSHTON, Gerry (1), RYAN, Scott (1), SANDS, Peter (1), SARNA, Julie (9), SCHRADER, Neville (5), SEMMENS, Bob (6), SETTLE, Peter (9) SHEEHAN, Brendon (1), SHELLEY, Luke (1), SHERRING, Ken (1), SHURCLIFF, Kath & Dave (4), SIMKUS, E (11), SMART, Jim (1), SMEDLEY, Alastair & Karen (1), SMITH, Alastair (9), SMITH, Andrew (5), SMITH, Ross (5), SPILLANE, Nicole & Paul JACOBSON (2), SPRY, Jenny (4), STANTON, Matthew (27), STARR, Simon (1), STILES, Jenny (4), STOCKWELL, Keith (1), STUART, Alan (1), STURDEE, Wes & Norma (1), TARBURTON, Michael (68), TARRANT, Marie (2), TARRANT, Tom (13), TAWS, Nicki (1), TAYLOR, Andrew (1), TAYLOR, Paul (2), THOMPSON, Warren (3), TODD, Chris (2), TORR, Dave (2), TRANTER, Ged (1), TYNAN, B. (1), VEERMAN, Philip (3), WALBRIDGE, Paul (2), WALKER, Robin (3), WALLACE, Rowena (1), WALLER, Trevor (1), WALSH, Stephen (12), WEDDERBURN, Bruce (1), WEEKS, Matt (3), WHITFIELD, Brett (1), WILLIAMS, Dan (4), WILLIAMS, Ed (1), WILLIAMS Roger (1), WILSON, Tom (24), WOEHLER, Eric (1), WOOD, Michael (2), WOODALL, Peter & Leith (1), WRIGHT, Ian & Meryl (1), YOUNG, John (1), ZILLMAN, Eric (1), ZNIDERSIC, Liz (1),

=================== Prof Michael Tarburton tarburton.m@optusnet.com.au ===================

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