FTS Report 2014/15

G’day bird-observers NB. I had trouble e-mailing some of the WTNT reports, so if you missed out and want a copy, please let me know. Hope you find this one interesting. Mike ======== Pacific (Fork-tailed) Swift (Apus pacificus) Report for 2014/15 Season. [Summary of 436 sightings sent to me or published where I could find them] This year 34 more reports were made than last year. Unlike last year a flock of 200 (larger than usual) over-wintering birds were reported by Joan Wharton in Qld during July. Also in Qld. Len & Chris Ezzy saw two near Ingham in June. But three days earlier 12 had been seen in Vic. by Pauline & Peter Follet, & Christine Dunstan. Three other observers saw 1 or more in July but did not bother to count them! These were from SA, Qld & NSW. One bird observed at Darwin by Golo & Micha Maurer on 20th Sept. may have been a recent migrant Ric Elsel recorded 2, 20, & 1 at the Broome Bird Observatory on 7th, 9th & 18th October, thus starting the influx of migrants. A single bird seen at Altona Nth in Vic, 6th Oct. by Chris Tzaros, may have been an over-stayer. On the 8th Sept Robert DeCandido, counted 300-500 heading south through Khao Dinso in peninsular Thailand. 400 were censused on 9th and 500 on the 10th. Smaller numbers were counted in the following weeks. These numbers were down on last year, and it appears more may have stayed in SE Asia this season than is normal. There were continuing sightings on eBird through the southern Summer. The first sighting of large flocks was made by Peter Kyne on the Adelaide River SE of Darwin, where he saw 1,000 12 Nov. It was 17th Jan before another large flock was seen. This was 3,000 birds seen by Rob Morris near Mt Molloy. 4,000 birds were seen by Dominic Funnell in the Cairns district 18th Jan & 3,000 probably part of the same flock were seen near the Cairns Airport the same day by Geoff Walker. Len & Chris Ezzy, always on the lookout for swifts saw 1,500 near Townsville 24th Jan. Then on 21 Feb Martin Cachard saw 2,000 back near Cairns. 28th Mar. Chris Barnes saw 1,600 near Port Bundaberg and Trevor Ford, saw 1,000 at Warra. So apart from the first large sighting all the others were in Qld, where most sightings were made this last season. All told only 45 sightings were reported from WA (20 last year), 41 from NT (20), 219 from Qld (156), 84 from NSW (86), 2 from ACT (7), 33 from Vic (compared to 93 & 63 the 2 previous years). 11 sightings were made in SA (17) & 1 in Tas (2). So were most of the birds in Qld, or was it just that most observers with their eyes open were in Qld this year? The first Vic report that was most likely from new arrivals was of 5 birds seen near Wangaratta on 6th Dec. by Paul Jones. They were seen again the following day, which is not unusual. The largest flocks seen in Victoria were only of 50 birds. John Pearson saw one 7th Jan. at Ocean Grove & Des Palmer saw one at Wanding on 7th Mar. Steve Davidson saw two flocks of 30 near Mallacoota so saw 60 on 8th Jan. The first four SA reports did not give numbers, the first that did were made by Claire Runge, being 14 birds at Oodnadatta and 150 on the Oodnadatta Track on 6th Oct. This last sighting was the largest reported flock for S.A. One of the consequences these swifts face in feeding over the drier parts of Australia is that the food supply quickly runs out and they have to move on. This means unlike Needletail observations, very few observers make more than three sightings. This means it is even more important that each observer report their one or two observations, so we can fill out the picture a little. Thank you all very much for doing so, and reporting the numbers seen. Observers who made more than three observations were: BARNES, Chris (13), BBO (5), Bowra Bird Call (11), BRUCE, Niel (4), CACHARD, Martin (6), CHAPPLE, Rory (4), CULICAN, Jo & Matt (4), DICK, Adrian (4), DOUGHTY, Robert (10), EWERS, Glen (6), EZZY, Len & Chris (8), FIELD, Mark (4), FISHER, Keith & Lindsay (6), FORD, Trevor (6), GARDNER, Marc (7), GILLANDERS, Alan (10), HEAP, Colin (4), HERRINGTON, Doug (8), JACKETT, Nigel (13), JACKSON, Micha (10), KOOISTRA, John (4), KYNE, Peter (7), LARSON, Helen (14), McGREGOR, Russell (4), MOORHEAD, Bill & Jack (6), MORRIS, Rob (4), PEARSON, John (6), RAWSTHORNE, John (6), SHURCLIFF, Kath (7), SMITH, Ross (5), VANDERDUYS, Eric (4), WALKER, Andy (5), WALSH, Adrian (8 ). That only four of these people made more than 3 sightings in the last report also indicated something of the mobility of these birds. Most of us did not make that many observations but I still thank all these contributors: ALCORN, Richard & Margaret (1), ALLEN, Mark (1), ALLEN, Richard (1), ALLSOP, John (2), ANDERSON, David (3), ARMSTRONG, Doug. (2), ATTEWELL, Chris (3), AUERBACH, Nancy (1), AW, Lai (1), BALDWIN, Nick & Nicola (1), BAXTER, Richard (1), BAWDEN, Tim (1), BEARDMORE, Roger (1), BERGMARK, Joshua (1), BELL, Andrew (2), BENSON, Alan (1), BILLINGTON, Tim. (1), BISCHOFF, Tony (1), BISHOP, David (2), BLACK, Bob (1), BLACKWOOD, Jane (1), BOOTH, Cliff (2), BORTOLUSSI, Greg (2), BOYLE, David (1), BRABY, Michael (1), BRECKENRIDGE, Max (2), BRIGGS, Allan & Steve (1), BRUNSWICK Valley Birdwatchers (1), BUCKBY, Mark (1), BURCHER, Paul (2), BYSOUTH, Mike (1), CANTON, Alexandra (1), CHAD, Warren (1), CHAPLIN, DOMINIC (1), CHARLEY, David (3), CLANCY, Greg (1), CLARKE, Rohan (1), CLAYTON, Mark (1), CLELAND, Evan (2), COMAN, Frank (1), CONNOR, Mike (1), COWAN, Ian (2), CURRAN, Cheryl & Paul (1), CURSTON, Clive (1), D. Christine (2), DAGG, Jeff (1), DALY, Gus (1), DENHAM, Lian & Mark (1), DICKSON, James (1), DOECKE, Michela (1), DOOLEY, Sean (2), DUNSTAN, Peter & Christine (1), DUNWIDDIE, Peter (1), DURBRIDGE, J. (2), ELSEL, Ric (3), ENGEL, Deryk (1), FAWCETT, Adam (3), FERGUSON, Alex (1), FERRY, Helen (1), FITZSIMONS, James (1), FOLLETT, Pauline (1), FORSTER, T. (1), FREEMAN, M&B (1), FRIESEN, Jude (3), FRY, Adam (1), FUNNELL, Dominic (3), GARDNER, Rod (1), GARLAND, Clive (2), GEELONG Filed Nats (1), GERRISH, Claire (1), GILLER, Roger (2), (1), GOODFELLOW, Denise (1), HAMILTON, Rob & Vicki (1), HASTINGS Birdwatchers (2), HAVENS, Maria (1), HAYNE, Curtis (2), HEATH, Paul (1), HILLER, Lewis (2), HIRSCH, Catherine (3), HOGG, Andrew (1), HONEYMAN, Mike (1), HUDSPITH, Nerida (1), HYNSON, Robert (1), ILLAWARRA BirdersJAGO, Russell (1), JENSEN, Andy (3), JOHNSON, Lorne (1), JONES, Paul (2), KEARNS, Michael (2), KEATES, Mrs S (1), KELLING, Steve (1), KERR, Steve (1), KIESKAMP, Helga (1), KING, Des (1), LARMOUR, Kim & Geoff (1), LARSON, Jeff (2), LEE, Sue & her Dad (1), LEWIS, George (2), LILLEYMAN, Amanda (3), LISHMUND, Owen (1), LISTER, Marie (1), LONG, Douglas (2), M, Clare (1), LOWIK, P (1), MARTINSON, Svante (1), MAURER, Golo (1), McCART, Roger (1), McCONNELL, Pat (1), McWHINNIE, Alex (1), MEADOWS, Clive (1), MELROSE, Christine (1), MESSER, Cec (1), MORGAN, Peter & Bev (3), MORRIS, Alan (1), MORRIS, Tim (2), MURKIN, Cheryl-Ann (1), MUSTAFA, James (1), NAT, Falla (2), NEALON, Clive (2), NEILL, Greg (2), NICKHOLDS, Tim (2), O’CONNOR, Graeme (1), PALMER, Des (1), PARKIN, Fiona (1), PASCOE, Scott & Jenny (2), PATERSON, Luke (1), PAYET, Rosemary (1), PICKERING, Stuart (2), PEARCE, Ceri (1), PIERCE, Ed (1), PRESTON, Ivor (1), REED, Rob (3), REYNOLDS, Ivan & Sandra (1), REYNOLDS Steve, (1), RICHARDSON, Allan (1), RID, George (1), RINGMA, Jeremy (2), RODERICK, Mick (1), ROGERS, Danny (1), ROLLAND, Viv (1), RONAN, Michael (1), ROWE, Karen (1), ROWER, Michelle & David (2), RUDDER, Ashwin (1), RUSER, Nathan (1), RUNGE, Claire (2), SANDERSON, C (1), SCHMIDT, Angus (1), SCHMIDT, Leigh (1), SCHUTZ, Anna (1), SHEEAN, Brendan,c Scott, Dee & Darcy (1), SILCOCK, Alastair (1), SKIPSEY, Roger (1), SKOWRONEK, Leo (1), SONNENBURG, Roy (3), SPRY, Jenny (1), STOGDALE, R & A, (1), STRONG, Michael (1), STUART, Alan (2), SULLIVAN, Brian & Steve (1), SZUCS, Lorand (1), TOLHURST, Wes (1), TULLOCH, Stefan (1), TURNBULL, Ray (1), TZAROS, Chris (1), VALENTINE, Peter (1), VICKERS, David (1), WAANDERS, Peter (1), WALDON, D (1), WALKER, Geoff (1), WARING, Richard (2), WEBSTER, R (1), WEEKS, Matt (1), WHARTON, Joan (2), WILEY, Chris (1), WILSON, Tom (2), WOOD, Mike (3), WYLLIE, Patrick (1), YONG, Russell (1), Information Sources animalfineartbycheryl-ann (1), Australian Birds (1), Birdlife Atlas (16), Birding-Aus (9), Birdline (36), birds Qld (1), birdswa (2), cairnsbirds (2), Contact Call (1), Direct e-mail (184), eBird (212), FSCB (2), hunterbirding (4), ntbirds (10), ntnaturalist (2), Plains Wanderer (1), The Twitcher (2), toowoombabirdobservers (1), =================== Michael Tarburton tarburton.m@optusnet.com.au ===================