A friend of mine at Bugong (at the southern extent of the Illawarra Escarpment, west of Nowra) currently has a returned Noisy Pitta adjacent to his property, which he has also had in the past several years ago. My parents had a pair at their house at Bellawongarah (in the Cambewarra Range, near Berry) in December 2009. Noisy Pittas have also become regular along the escarpment west of Wollongong during the last decade. Cheers, Nigel Jackett =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================
We can’t be sure that Noisy Pittas are altitudinal migrants for, as far as I know, we haven’t had any long distance or altitudinal movement recoveries of banded Pittas. It is interesting because the species turns up in good numbers on the NSW North Coast during the autumn-winter but unlike the southern migrants (Grey Fantail, Golden Whistler, Silvereye etc.) the Pitta doesn’t occur in southern Australia and the numbers south of the north coast would appear to be small so it is unlikely that the north coast birds have arrived from the south. The most likely explanation is that they move down from the high country but another possibility is that they migrate south from Queensland. Southward movement of birds in the winter is rare but the Spangled Drongo does go south as well as north during the autumn-winter. If the Noisy Pitta is an altitudinal migrant it is likely that not all individuals migrate. It appears that adult male Eastern Spinebill stay in the high country while adult females (with a few exceptions) and young birds move to the lowlands. Again we need more proof from banded birds but that is what appear to happen. Eastern Spinebills also appear to be latitudinal migrants. There is just so much that we don’t understand about migration in Australian birds, particularly autumn-winter migration. Regards Greg Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460 | 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960 http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 7:42 AM My only observation of Noisy Pittas on a visit to the Border Ranges in July this year was in one of the highest (altitude) sections of the area, near the Pinnacle Lookout. This made me question the altitude migration theory. — Marc Anderson Wild Ambience Sydney, Australia P +61 (0) 430 072 299 E marc@wildambience.com http://www.wildambience.com facebook.com/wildambience ——————————————————————————– =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
=============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
WHITE-THROATED NEEDLETAIL (_HIRUNDAPUS CAUDACUTUS_) REPORT FOR 2012/13 SEASON. Your records for the past season indicate that the weird extremes of weather did correlate with unusual swift behaviour. Needletails arrived in Victoria about their usual date and many were seen December to February, but the extreme heat and dryness of Vic. appears to have reduced their numbers, with more clumped sightings in part of the Hunter Valley and closer to Brisbane, during March and April. This behaviour nearly doubled the number of sightings from Qld compared to last year. This same weather produced more FTS sightings in Victoria than has been normal over recent years. The 1,686 records I have obtained or that have been sent to me so far are 386 more than received for the previous season. Thank you so much for the extra effort in making & sharing these records. The first needletail record was of 3 birds at Cabramatta (NSW) on 20.9.2012 seen by Mark Cachia. There had been an undefined sighting sometime in August from Qld and only one other September sighting also in Qld. The first report from Victoria was of 5 birds seen on 16th Oct. by Ron Becker a veteran swift observer from Maramingo. There were 2 (0 last year) reports from the NT this season. There was 1 (5 last year) record from WA, 3 (9) records from SA, 39 (29) from ACT, 11 (21) from TAS, 436 (217) from Qld, 343 (327) from Vic, & 876 (714) from NSW. The WA record was not at Cocos or Christmas (as they were last year) but near Cape Naturalist in the SW of WA. This is a most unusual sighting, but was made by Des Palmer an observer from Vic. and experienced with both species. The sighting was on 4th April indicating that the early exodus from Vic. did not take all birds through NSW to Qld. With needletails clumping more than is usual in NSW & Qld three flocks of 2,000 birds were recorded compared to last years one. There were seven sightings of a thousand or more birds. Sadly there were also too many reports of “lots” “many” “huge flocks” and we will never know how big these flocks were. One of the “lots” was reported from Yorkeys Knob Rd, Qld 10th June by Luke Jackson. So the unseasonal weather was still influencing unusual behaviour in Australia in Winter. One needletail was so upset by our weather that it went to Britain, to the Isle of Harris, where many jubilant birders saw it 25th June. Even more saw it the following day as observers came from all over the UK to see such a rare bird for those parts. Then some of them saw it fly into the only wind turbine on the island and they picked it up dead. So, do we blame the turbine or the really hot & dry Australian summer? The average flock size this season was 41 compared to 40 for last year & 44 for the year before. All figures are lower than the mean of 52 for the last decade. So not even the clumping caused by the extrememly hot dry weather in southern and central Australia, was able to raise the mean flock size by more than one Once again the top recorder for the season was Irene Allan, making 121 sightings., Len & Jacquie Axen saw 45 flocks, Paul Jones 40, Andy Jensen 37 , Peter Alexander 36, Allan Morris 35, Ross Smith 30, Tim Morris 29, Tom Wilson 29, Mike Tarburton 29, Dave Flumm 27, Mick Roderick, 27, Phil Gilmour 26 Liz Hawkins 26, Bas Hensen 23, Julie Sarna 22, Matthew Stanton 17, Rod Gardner 17, & Michael Ramsey 13. 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 for this season given in brackets). ABBOTT, Carol (2), ABBOTT, Peter (1), ABBOTTS, Sue (2), ACTON, Marlene (2), ADAMS, D. (10), ADAMS, Jack (1), AIREY, Jackson (1), ALCORN, Richard & Margaret (1), ALEXANDER, Peter (36), ALLAN, Irene (121), ALLAN, Robert (8), ALLSOP, John (9), ALTING, Therese (2), ANDERSON, Bill (3), ANDERSON, Craig (3), ANTRAM, Frank (1), ARMSTRONG, Chris. (8), ASHTON, Tony (2), ATZENI, Mick (2), AVERY, John (2), AXEN, Jacquie & Len (45), AYRE, Gavin (1), BAKER, George & Teresa (2), BAKER, Scott (1), BARNES, Chris (4), BARTRAM, Kevin (1), BAWDEN, Tim (1), BAXTER, Richard (1), BECKER, Freddie (1), BECKER, Ron (10), BELLING, Neil (2), BENNETT, Mark (7), BENSON, Allan, (2), BERGMARK, Joshua (3), BILNEY, Rohan (1), BIRKHEAD, Joseph (1), BLQ (2), BLSQ (13), BOEKEL, Con. (1), BOYD, Glenn (2), BQ (5), BRANDWOOD, Keith (3), BRECKENRIDGE, Max (5), BROOKS, Paul (1), BROSIE, Grant (8), BROWN, Ian & Jill (2), BROWN, Warren (2), BRUCE, Niel (7), Brunswick Valley Birdwatchers (1), BULLEN, Lyn (1), BULTRYS, Enoch (3), BUNCE, Ian (1), BURCHER, Paul & Jacqueline (4), BURROWS, Todd (3), BUTLER, Jim (3), BUTTERFIELD, Martin (6), CACHARD, Martin (2), CACHIA, Mark (1), CAMERON, Margaret, (7), CAREW, Arthur (1), CARPENTER, Carole & John (6), CARSON, Nick (1), CHARLEY, David (2), CHICKSEN, Mal (5), CLANCEY, Greg (5), CLARK, David (2), CLARK, Rae (2), CLARKE, Rohan (1), CLAYTON, Simon (1), CLOG, Jan (7), COCKERELL, John (5), COMER, Ray (1), COOK, Bob (1), CORBETT, Larry & Chris (3), CORKE, David (1), CORMACK, Will (1), CRAWFORD, Liz (13), CROSLAND, Michael (1), CURSON, Clive (1), D. Christine (1), DAVIDSON, Steven (13), DAVIES, Aaron (1), DAVIES, Ian (1), DAWE, Tony & Stephanie (1), de KLERK, Paddy (1), DEAN, Barry (1), DENING, Jill (1), DENNETT, Xenia (2), DICK, Adrian (1), DOECKE, Nathan (2), DOLBY, Tim (1), DOOLEY, Sean (1), DOUGHERTY, Robert (1), DRAKE, Alistair & Carmen (2), DUKE, Steve & Judi (6), EARL, Hedley & Irena (2), EDVARDSSON, Martin (1), EGGINS, Darryl (4), EGGINS, Gary (1), ENGEL, Deryk & Paul (3), EVANS, Andrew (7), EWIN, John & Denise (1), EZZY, Len & Chris (2), FARIAS, Alex (1), FARIS, James (2), FARNES, R. (1) Fasssifern Field Nats (2), FAULKNER, Tim (1), FERGUSON, Patricia (1), FINLEY, Eric (1), FISHER, Keith & Lindsay (13), FLUMM, Dave (27), FORD, Stewart (1), FRASER, Ian. (1), FRAZER, Ed. (1), FRENCH, John (1), FRISWELL, Neil (1), FULLER, Mark (2), FUNNELL, Dominic (1), GALLIENNE, Sandra (11), GARDNER, Rod (17), GARDNER, John (3), GIBSON, Tony (3), GILL, Norton (1), GILLANDERS, Alan (8), GILLER, Roger (1), GILMOUR, Phil (26), GOODYEAR, Gavin (10), GORTA, Simon (10), GOTLEY, W & J (2), GRAHAM, Bill (3), GREGORY, Beth (1), GREGORY, Chris (2), GREGORY, Phil (1), GROSS, Steve (3), HAASS, Nikolas & Raja (2), HALL, Beth (1), HALL, Lachlan (3), HARMAN, Brett (1), HARMS, Benjamin (1), HARRIS, John (2), HARTSHORN, Angus (2), HAVENS, Maria (1), HAWKINS, Liz (26), HAYNE, Curtis (4), HAYWOOD, B & T. (2), HEALEY, Chris (7), HEFERNAN, R. (3), HEMPSTEAD, Janice (1), HENSEN, Bastiaan (23), HENSHAW, Jono (2), HERBERT, Kim (1), HERBERT, Chris (2), HERRINGTON, Doug (5), HEYWOOD, Jan (1), HIGGINS, Peter (1), HILL, Rachel (1), HINGSTON, Andrew (1), HOBCROFT, Dion (1), HOLLAND, Jack (1), HOLLIDAY, Steve (1), HORLER, Peter (8), HOSKEN, Lesley (1), HOSKING, Peter (1), HOUSSENLODGE, John (1), HOUTON, Dave (2), HUNTER, Michael (1), ILES, Carol (2), IRETON, Tania (1), JACKETT, Carla (3), JACKSON, Luke (1), JAMES, David (6), JAMES, Max (4), JENKIN, Dick (4), JENSEN, Andy (37), JOHNSTON, Lorne (1), JOHNSTON, Matt. (1), JOHNSTONE, Richard (4), JOLLY, William (3), JONES, Barbara (3), JONES, David (1), JONES, Paul (40), JOYCE, R. (1), KATON, Anthony & Vicki (2), KEATES, Sheryl (1), KELLY, Damian (1), KING, Des (1), KNIGHT, Laurie (6), KUHL, Mike (3), KYNE, Peter (1), L. Ian (1), LAMB, Russel (3), LAMBERT, D. (1), LARMOUR, Kim & Geoff (7), LASHKO, Sue (2), LATTAWAY, Jude (9), LAWS, Peter (1), LAYTON, John K. (4), LEE, Sue (7), LEITCH, Judy (3), LEONARD, John (7), LEWIS, George (3), LEY, Mark (4), LINDSAY, Kurtis (2), LINKLATER, Bernard (1), LISHMUND, Owen (2), LITTLE, Greg (3), LOFGREN, Oskar (1), LONERGAN, Noel (3), LUMNITZER, Ákos (6), LYELL, Marlene (1), MACKNIGHT, M. (1), MADVIG, Peter (2), MARTINEZ, Chris (1), MASON, Lee (1), MASON, Melissa (2), MASTERS, Gavin (13), McBRIDE, Steve (6), McCONNELL, Pat (2), McKELLAR, Tim (2), McKENZIE, Kim (6), McLACHLAN, Greg (6), McLENNAN, John (1), McNABB, Ed (2), McNAGTEN, Michael (1), McRITCHIE, Bernie (3), MANTLE, Daniel (1), MERIGAN, Rosalie (1), MIHARA, S (1), MILLER, Richard (6), MINCHIN, Lisa (1), MITFORD, David (5), MOFFATT, Bob (2), MORICE, Geoffrey (1), MORRIS, Allan (35), MORRIS, Tim (29), MORRISON, N & J (7), MOSES, Kim (1), MULHOLLAND, Ross (1), MULLANEY, Matt (6), MURPHY, Fran (3), MURRAY, Steve (9), MUTTON, Troy (3), NEILL, Greg (2), NEWMAN, Mike (4), NICKHOLDS, Tim (1), NILAND, David (2), NORMAN, Sean (2), NORRIS Ken (4), NORRIS, Michael (1), O’BRIAN, Danny (1), O’DONNELL, Kath (1), O’MALLEY, Pat (3), OSBORN, Paul (6), OXENHAM, Katie (1), PACEY, Glen (1), PALMER, Des (3), PAYET, Rosemary (6), Pearson, John (1), PEEL, Philip (1), PENDAVINGH, Daniel (1), PENLINGTON, Phil. (2), PERKINS, Harvey (3), PERRIN, Christian (2), PICKERING, Stuart (2), PIERCE, Ed. (1), PILAT, Gosia (1), PITT, Andrew (1), PORT, Christina (3), POTTER, Martin & Penny (1), PRESTON, Ivor (1), PRICE, Robyn (4), PROWSE, Owen (1), RAMSEY. Michael (13), RAWSTHORNE, John (4), REED, J. (1), REID, Colin (3), REIFENSTEIN, Jacqueline (1), RICHARDSON, Allan (5), RIJZ Matt. (5), RIJZ, Vanessa (1), ROBERTS, Greg (1), ROBERTS, Harry (1), ROBINO, Janet (1), RODERICK, Mick (27) RODERICK, Steve (4), ROGERS, Colin (1), ROLLAND, Vivien (3), Romane, S. (1), RONAN, Michael (1), ROPER, Brian (1), ROPER, Marion (7), Rose, Allan & Sandy (1), ROSS, Chris (7), ROUNSEVELL, Darin (1), RUDDER, Ashwin (5), RYAN, Bebecca (1), RYAN, Scott (1), SANDERSON, Chris (1), SARNA, Julie (22), SAWYER, Peter (3), SAWYER, Ron (1), SEMMENS, Bob (4), SEQ Banding Grp (3), SHEEAN, Brendan (1), SHELLEY, Luke (3), SHELLEY, Neil (1), SHELLEY, Paul (1), SHERRING, Ken (5), SHURCLIFF, Kath (2), SIMKUS, Elizabeth (8), SMALLS, Matthew (1), SMART, Jim (6), SMITH, Alastair (3), SMITH Graham & Brenda (3), SMITH, Rob (1), SMITH, Ross (30), SPRY, Jenny (3), STAFFORD, Andrew (1), STANTON, Matthew (17), STARR, Simon (2), STEPHENSON, Mathew (2), STEWART, David (3), STILES, Jenny (15), STOWE, David (1), STUART, Alan (7), STUART, Dave (1), SUTCLIFFE, M. (1), SZUCS, Lorand (2), TALBOT, Nicholas (2), TARBURTON, Mike (29), TARRANT, Marie (5), TARRANT, Tom (3), TAYLOR, Andrew (2), TEH, Julian (1), THOMPSON, Sue (1), THOMPSON, Warren (1), TIERNEY, Peter (2), TIMEWELL, Chris &(1), TORR, Dave (2), TRANTER, Ged (2), TYNAN, Brian (2), VALENTINE, Peter (1), VANDERDUYS, Eric (1), VEERMAN, Philip (2), VELLA, Edwin (2), WALDON, D. (2), WALKER, Robin (2), WALLACE, Darren (1), WALLACE, Rowena (2), WALLIS, C. (4), WALMSLEY, Ben (3), WALSH, Stephen (3), WARE, Peter (1), WATSON, Christopher (1), WEEKS, Matt. (2), WEIGEL, John (2), WELLER, Dan (1), WELLS, Dezmond (1), WHARTON, Joan (3), WHELAN, David (1), WHITFIELD, Dave (1), WHITING, Jack (8), WHYLIE, rook (1), WICKER, Falk (1), WILK, Kathy & Peter (11), WILLIAMS, Dan (9), WILLIAMS, Roger (1), WILSON, Tom (29), WNOROWSKI, Ted (3), WOEHLER, Eric (1), WOHLMUTH, Hans (5), WOOD, Michael (14), WOOD, Paul (1), WRIGHT, Ian & Meryl (2), XIMENES, Arwen (3), YOUNG, Mark (4), ZANETTI, Carmen (DRAKE) (1), ZILLMANN, Eric (2), Mike Tarburton ————————- Email sent using Optus Webmail =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Guys, The altitudinal migrant thing is a bit odd in the Hunter Region – likely in the ranges to the north, but it seems there is lower altitude breeding activity taking place in the absence of significant upland rainforest further south (colder upland forests in the south might be playing a part in availability of food resources for breeding cycles as well?). On the mid-north coast there is significant sub-trapical rainforests a little higher up on the mountains than we have in the Hunter and certainly higher up than the forests south of the valley, such as the Watagans and beyond. It will be interesting to see if low altitude breeding attempts are observed by birds in Sydney and beyond……….. Allan On 01/09/2013, at 5:44 PM, Chris Brandis wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Allan There have been the odd sighting down in the Illawarra for years. A pair were seen on My Keira for several winter down to 1 last winter and there is a pair in Blackbutt Forest, Shellharbour, at the moment. They always seem to be winter altitudinal migrants but summer records are negligible. I even went around playing tapes a few years ago but got no response but there is a lot of good rain forest on the escarpment that is not accessible. Cheers Chris —– Original Message —– Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2013 6:56 AM =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================