Month: October 2014

ADVERTISEMENT – Birds of Australia: A Photographic Guide (Princeton University Press)

The latest addition to the Princeton University Press range of Bird and Natural History guides is Birds of Australia: A Photographic Guide, by Ian Campbell, Sam Woods and Nick Leseberg. We would be very interested in any comments, reviews or (hopefully not too many of these) corrections from Birding-Aus readers – please post to this list. Readers of Birding-Aus can obtain a discount of 20% on orders through the PUP website using this discount code: P05950. More details on the book below the link. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10338.html Australia is home to a spectacular diversity of birdlife, from parrots and penguins to emus and vibrant passerines. Birds of Australia covers all 714 species of resident birds and regularly occurring migrants and features more than 1,100 stunning color photographs, including many photos of subspecies and plumage variations never before seen in a field guide. Detailed facing-page species accounts describe key identification features such as size, plumage, distribution, behavior, and voice. This one-of-a-kind guide also provides extensive habitat descriptions with a large number of accompanying photos. The text relies on the very latest IOC taxonomy and the distribution maps incorporate the most current mapping data, making this the most up-to-date guide to Australian birds. * Covers all 714 species of resident birds and regularly occurring migrants * Features more than 1,100 stunning color photos * Includes facing-page species accounts, habitat descriptions, and distribution maps * The ideal photographic guide for beginners and seasoned birders alike Eoghan Barry Digital Marketing Assistant [P Logo] Princeton University Press 41 William Street Princeton, NJ 08540-5237 www.press.princeton.edu Eoghan_Barry@press.princeton.eduEoghan_Barry@press.princeton.edu>

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Mystery calls from Wyperfeld NP, Victoria,

Thanks all for your comments so far. While the habitat was mallee, it was on the fringe with some dry woodland nearby. It seems fairly certain that the first call was indeed Mulga Parrot – Here’s an existing recording of Mulga Parrot which I compared it with – http://www.xeno-canto.org/40562 The jury is still out on the second call, and I’m now leaning towards one of the larger parrots like Mallee Ringneck or Yellow Rosella. Marc Anderson

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Where are the Aussie Painted Snipes this year?

Some El Nino, eh? Too wet on the east coast for the usual Painted Snipe traps (thanks for Hunter updates Mick R). Has anyone, ANYWHERE seen the little Aussie secret nomads this Spring?

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Our resident Kookaburras have gone missing…any ideas?

We’ve been livining in a neighborhood on the Far South Coast of NSW for about 12 years now. During that entire time, we’ve had at least a family of Kookaburras all along. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen no more than one bird at a time and never heard their regular calls. And their calls sere very regular… Any ideas of what would make such reliable residents disappear? The only thing we can come up with this that some trees around the corner were cleared not so long ago. We don’t know where these Kookaburras had their nests, but it could have been over there. Any thoughts appreciated.

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Hi Folks, Our first Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher for the season arrived back overnight, it was heard and glimpsed high in a tree in our rainforest. The earliest they have arrived at the Lodge has been 16th October and the latest 18th November. We thought they might have been late this year due to the dry weather and S-E winds. Great to have them back. Cheers, Keith & Lindsay. — Keith & Lindsay Fisher Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge RN 6 Mt. Kooyong Road Julatten QLD 4871 Ph : (07) 4094 1263 Web Site: www.birdwatchers.com.au Blog: http://kingfisherparkbirdwatchers.blogspot.com/

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

nest story

Dear all My friend Susan Cantrell and her husband Ray have settled in Armidale. Here is her story (without the attached pictures) about a nest. If anyone wants to see the photos, please ask and I’ll forward the complete email to you. Shirley Cook _______ Hi Shirley. Thought you might like to see these photos. Last year when we first moved in here I found quite a few nests in the garden. One was a Grey Fantail’s attached to a roll of wire. I found it hanging from the rafters in a garden shed. I actually took it down and took it all the way up to Tamborine Mt to show my old bird group. It’s a much-travelled nest! I hung it back up when I returned home and lo and behold a pair of Willy Wags has taken it over this year and laid three eggs in it! Talk about recycling! They don’t sit on it in the heat of the day – I presume that’s because it’s too hot under the corrugated iron roof of the shed. I hope the eggs don’t cook! The difference between the two species’ nests is – the GF’s is woven grass and cobwebs and has a tail like a wine glass. The WW’s is made of a similar material but is cupped – no tail about the same size though. Nevertheless they don’t seem to mind the architecture, so long as it works! In the second photo that’s him telling me off. The only access they have to the nest is through the door as the shed is totally wired in elsewhere. The tail of the original nest has been somewhat shortened and the WW’s seems to built almost on top of it – to one side. Cheers Susan

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Notes from a research seminar on the decimation of migratory shorebird species on the East Asian Flyway

G’day I attended a lunchtime seminar presented by Peter Fuller (UQ) today on the ongoing decline of the number of migratory waders reaching Australia. Peter is part of a group studying wader dynamics over the last couple of decades. While the abundance of non-magratory shorebirds has been stable, most transhemispherical migrants are declining at annual rates of 4 to 9%. Curlew Sandpipers are one of the hardest hit species, with their numbers down 84% over 25 years. The common factor in the decline for most species is the loss of habitat in the Yellow sea (basically two thirds in recent decades (there is a recent article on the subject at http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20141027000048&cid=1105 ). Peter noted that 90% of the variance in the rate of decline of the various species studies was linked to the dependence of those species on the Yellow Sea as a transit point for their migrations. About half of the inter-tidal habitat loss was due to land use changes (15% aquaculture, 25% agriculture, 10% industrial). The other 50% was due to coastal erosion – a combination of sea level rise and reduced sediment deposition (due to the presence of dams etc). The long term survival of the impacted migratory species may depend on how they can adjust their migrations to get around the loss of their transit points. Peter noted that there had been changes in Ruff migration routes in response to habitat issues. Two research questions that occurred to me were: 1. How are the size and age structure of the overwintering populations of the migratory species changing? 2. Are the patterns of vagrancy changing? Do they presage possible changes in migratory behaviour? Ultimately, there is the fundamental question of evolutionary plasticity – will the shorebirds be able to change enough to survive the changes in the world? Regards, Laurie.

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Is there a bird app for southern Argentina and Chile?

My husband and I are unexpectedly off on an expedition hoping to see Emperor Penguins later this month. We will have part of a day on the way and on the way back in Ushuaia so might hire a car and go out to the National Park perhaps, so I’m wondering if there is an app. for the area? Thanks in advance, Sonja

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org