A quick trip north to look for the reported Malleefowl along the Ouyen-Patchewollock Rd, was most successful. We saw 35 malleefowl feeding along the road between 6:15pm and 6:45pm. The birds were mainly in singles and pairs, with one group of three. The next morning we saw 8 Malleefowl along the same stretch of road at about 8:30am. I suspect that there would have been more birds earlier. To see so many of these enigmatic birds was an exciting and highly recommended birding experience.
I do, however, have some questions. The birds were feeding on what I presume is spilt grain along with many Common Bronzewing Pigeons, Mallee Ringnecks and Red-rumped Parrots. Is this Malleefowl gathering an annual occurrence which has gone unreported in the past or a unique event? Is this large number of Malleefowl the result of a few years successful breeding who are now struggling after our current hot dry summer? We saw 35 Malleefowl along a 10km stretch of road. This seems to be a high population density. Is this usual or are the birds travelling large distances for an ‘easy’ feed?
I would be most interested to hear other birders’ opinions on what is happening here. When I think of my previous efforts to spot a Malleefowl!
Philip Jackson ===============================
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Comments
8 responses to “Malleefowl Bonanza”
I’m thinking that maybe these Malleefowl have discovered a new food resource and this will help them have better breeding success, boost numbers &c, at least as long as cnaola continues to be grown in the area.
In the area north-west of Canberra Superb Parrot numbers have increased in recent decades and it is thought one factor is the discovery by them of new food sources, including wheat spilled from grain trucks along roads.
John Leonard
Ross, Thanks for the response which is most interesting. The photograph is incredible. I have had some other responses from locals who agree that they have never seen anything like the current congregations of Malleefowl. They do say that they have seen the birds feeding from split grain in the past, but only a few singles or pairs. Another suggested that this year’s very large canola crop might be a factor.
Whatever the reasons, it is a spectacular sight well worth the visit. It seems to have been occurring since mid-January at least when John Tongue first reported it on Birdline-Vic. I suspect that you are right when you suggest that this is not a good sign – reliance on roadside spillage is surely not a good thing.
Philip Jackson
Ross,
That is an incredible photo on the Weakly Timed site.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
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This is definitely not an annual event. The consensus is no one has ever seen anything like it. One Ouyen local told me his wife was arranging a mini-bus to take people from the local nursing home down to see the birds as no one has seen this many in one place.
(I have been having quite a few conversations with Ouyen-ites in the past month because the VMRG is organising its annual reporting back weekend there on 23-24 March – send me an email if you want details.)
The nearest I can get to a similar sighting is that some of our members once saw about 12 malleefowl feeding in the same place in a clearing at the southern end of Wandown FFR in the early evening.
The prevailing wisdom is the malleefowl are feeding on canola thrown off the grain trucks, but my Dad told me someone had dissected a road-kill bird and found mostly native seeds. The bird was apparently in good condition.
Our general view is this is unusual behaviour and therefore it’s probably not a good sign, but we don’t know. The birds have had 3 very good breeding seasons after the improved rains, but this past season has been the best despite a dry winter.
Here’s a couple of links to stories about the sightings.
The ABC one includes an interview with Colleen Barnes from Ned’s Corner who talk the now-famous photo. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/02/11/3687952.htm
This one from the Weekly Times aka the pink comic book includes a quote which completely misrepresents what I told the reporter – but fortunately they’ve published my comment to correct the record. http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2013/02/15/559885_national-news.html
Cheers, Ross Macfarlane Secretary Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group, Inc. secretary@malleefowlvictoria.org.au http://www.malleefowlvictoria.org.au
It’s interesting to hear who does and doesn’t see Malleefowl. I was talking a service station owner in Ouyen while filling up, and he said he’d been on local mound checking surveys when he was in scouts, and had presumably spent most of his life in the area, but my memory is that he then said he’d only seen one bird in his whole life.
Peter Shute
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Philip
My vehicle and I were being transported along the Ouyen-Patchewollock Rd courtesy of the RACV on 8 Nov 2012 at about 1600. The RACV man (from Ouyen) remarked “We always see Malleefowl along this stretch of road.”
Almost immediately, a Malleefowl wandered across the road. We didn’t see any more and the RACV man seemed quite surprised that we had seen only one.
Cheers
David
Sent from my iPhone
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Yes thats amazing to read – what a thrill it must have been – Im keen to hear any feedback from your questions
Only ever seen one in the Wyperfield NP
cheers
David Taylor
David and Marg Taylor Brisbane
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Hi Phillip
this is wonderful news-with how rare they are becoming.
Gary
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