Hi All An interesting thread on Currawongs. I’ve been involved with Bush Regeneration since the 1990s on Sydney’s lower North Shore. We had an incredible influx of Pied Currawongs establish themselves in Sydney in the 80s & 90s because of the amount of weed Privet growing here. Bush Regeneration has largely gotten rid of Privet, consequently the Currawong numbers have greatly decreased in our area. New weed foods are Celtis (Chinese Hackberry) and African Olives. They still eat some of the native berry producing plants. I’ve also seen them take baby Noisey Miners, something I would like to see more of since our bird life is dominated by these aggressive birds. This year we seem to have a greater number of Channel-billed Cuckoos in our local park, parasitising the Currawongs. So I expect that the numbers will decrease even further in the future. Our local Magpies were clever and nested early enough to beat the Channel-bills arrival. Have others noticed an increase in Channel Bill Cuckoos also? Cheers Chris Chris Melrose cmelrose099@gmail.com phone numbers: +61 (2)9438 3635 (Home) +61 407 705 140 (mobile) =============================== 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 ===============================
Channel-billed Cuckoos have certainly increased in Canberra, though are sill rare. This has followed the Koel that was rare here many years ago but now a common summer migrant and breeding regularly, although this only started in the last about 5 years. Philip —–Original Message—– [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of Chris Melrose Sent: Wednesday, 4 December 2013 1:30 PM Hi All An interesting thread on Currawongs. I’ve been involved with Bush Regeneration since the 1990s on Sydney’s lower North Shore. We had an incredible influx of Pied Currawongs establish themselves in Sydney in the 80s & 90s because of the amount of weed Privet growing here. Bush Regeneration has largely gotten rid of Privet, consequently the Currawong numbers have greatly decreased in our area. New weed foods are Celtis (Chinese Hackberry) and African Olives. They still eat some of the native berry producing plants. I’ve also seen them take baby Noisey Miners, something I would like to see more of since our bird life is dominated by these aggressive birds. This year we seem to have a greater number of Channel-billed Cuckoos in our local park, parasitising the Currawongs. So I expect that the numbers will decrease even further in the future. Our local Magpies were clever and nested early enough to beat the Channel-bills arrival. Have others noticed an increase in Channel Bill Cuckoos also? Cheers Chris Chris Melrose cmelrose099@gmail.com phone numbers: +61 (2)9438 3635 (Home) +61 407 705 140 (mobile) =============================== 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 Chris and all, Well, the Channel-bills are certainly active here in “West” Beecroft, near Fernleigh Park (N.W. Sydney), calling at any time of day or night and flying over our house. More than we had in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, we think. They get chased by the usual species, including Pied Currawongs. We also have the ‘pleasure’ of Eastern Koels, and early yesterday afternoon I enjoyed having a male calling from a very close-up tree, which resulted in a female flying in to join him…first time I’ve seen her, here! A great picture could have been taken of them both together, in the open – but, we don’t have good cameras. He seemed to want to mate, but she kept moving away and they eventually departed in the same direction. The Noisy Miners didn’t seem too fussed, after an initial protestation. Cheers, Peter Madvig —– Original Message —– Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 1:30 PM =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================