Atherton Tableland Woodswallows

By Birding-Aus, on May 31st, 2015

Hi all Yesterday late morning a few of us went chasing woodswallows in the Mareeba area. No luck in the Koah and Chewko Road areas, and also out towards Mutchilba. Also no luck initially along Channel Road however on returning from Mutchilba along Channel Road we came across a flock of around 50 or so. Some were definitely White-browed Woodswallows, which was our target species. The weather in the morning was overcast and drizzly, so we suspect aerial insects would not be out and hence no woodswallows, apart from a few White-breasted Woodswallows doing the usual thing and sitting on power lines. When we eventually saw the woodswallows on Channel Road the weather had cleared and warmed up. It certainly makes a difference in identifying woodswallows when they are sitting on fence lines. Driving between Hughenden and Winton it is easy to identify Woodswallow species at 100 km an hour as they are sitting on the fence close to the road, or soaring just above the car! When they are distant in grey days we found it more difficult. Despite the un-obliging nature of the woodswallows (could have saved us 4 hours of driving around by just being on Channel Road in the morning), it was a good day birding. The other birding highlight was when we stopped at Mutchilba to wait for woodswallows to come to us we saw White-winged Triller – also a sign of dry conditions out west. Ian Sinclair

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mcachard

June 2, 2015 at 8:46 am

Hi Alan, Thanks for your clarification and no need to apologise at all Alan. I’ve been unable to get up onto the tablelands myself lately due to heavy work commitments, and your notes on here have been great to see to keep people like me updated on what’s happening up on the hills with these hungry visitors!! Were the 50 or so local Dusky WS you saw the other day actually with the visiting White-browed, Masked & Black-faced WS?? Whatever your answer Alan, it’s still amazing to hear about all this WS activity on the tablelands – I’m just trying to get a handle on it without actually having witnessed it up there. For all I know, there may well have been some Black-faced WS mixed in with that huge flock I had here on the beach a month or so ago – I will never know the answer to that now… :-)) cheers, martin cachard, trinity beach (beautiful yesterday, even better today!!!!), cairns.

Alan Gillanders

June 2, 2015 at 7:47 am

Greetigns, Perhaps I should have said that the most numerous of the Woodswallows were Dusky, a bit over 50 %. Sorry if my writing misinformed you Martin. Yesterday morning two separate large Woodswallow flocks in that general area, one too distant to ID the others nearly all White-browed and Masked with very many young birds. I saw only a couple of dusky and this time a few Black-faced. There must be a lot of these birds around. They were into areal feeding but also on the ground and in flowers. Regards, Alan Alan’s Wildlife Tours 2 Mather Road Yungaburra 4884 Phone 07 4095 3784 Mobile 0408 953 786 http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au/ —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2015 9:18 PM Nearly 200 Woodswallows and a 100 Tree Martins on Chewko Road near the railway line crossing this afternoon. Most WS were dusky but White-browed and Masked too. Regards, Alan Alan’s Wildlife Tours 2 Mather Road Yungaburra 4884 Phone 07 4095 3784 Mobile 0408 953 786 http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au/ —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2015 11:41 AM Hi all Yesterday late morning a few of us went chasing woodswallows in the Mareeba area. No luck in the Koah and Chewko Road areas, and also out towards Mutchilba. Also no luck initially along Channel Road however on returning from Mutchilba along Channel Road we came across a flock of around 50 or so. Some were definitely White-browed Woodswallows, which was our target species. The weather in the morning was overcast and drizzly, so we suspect aerial insects would not be out and hence no woodswallows, apart from a few White-breasted Woodswallows doing the usual thing and sitting on power lines. When we eventually saw the woodswallows on Channel Road the weather had cleared and warmed up. It certainly makes a difference in identifying woodswallows when they are sitting on fence lines. Driving between Hughenden and Winton it is easy to identify Woodswallow species at 100 km an hour as they are sitting on the fence close to the road, or soaring just above the car! When they are distant in grey days we found it more difficult. Despite the un-obliging nature of the woodswallows (could have saved us 4 hours of driving around by just being on Channel Road in the morning), it was a good day birding. The other birding highlight was when we stopped at Mutchilba to wait for woodswallows to come to us we saw White-winged Triller – also a sign of dry conditions out west. Ian Sinclair

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June 1, 2015 at 8:46 am

Hi Alan, Ian & others, Geez Alan, that’s a high number of Dusky WS for up here, isn’t it??!! I know that there’s always been a pretty healthy resident population of Dusky’s about that area near Yungaburra/Tinaroo, but that is a very high number in a single flock, I would’ve thought… Or have I missed something, Alan?? And Ian, that’s a good day you had out west of here on Saturday too… It’s pretty normal though to see White-winged Trillers wintering up here – a good spot to see them regularly up here in the cooler months is Lake Mitchell, between Mareeba & Mt Molloy. We even see the occasional bird or 2 on the northern beaches of Cairns in most autumn/winters here as well. I’d like to please pass on a tip that should help you know whether you have White-browed WS and/or Masked WS in your immediate area the next time you go hunting for them too Ian, if I may… Both these 2 very closely related species, which seem to flock together more often than not, especially in the eastern half of Aust, make a very distinctive and very musical call when they are hawking insects in flocks high on the wing. And it’s a sound that’s quite unlike that of any other woodswallows too. It’s the sum effect of a high number of birds in a hawking flock each making a similar and rather simple, yet uplifting rather musical call in contact, that can alert you to them being somewhere above you – it’s best heard at dawn pre-sunrise, and that’s exactly what alerted me to these birds being here on the foreshore of Trinity Beach that dawn a month ago. But they do make these same calls throughout the day as well when hawking in a similar fashion – it’s just that it’s so much more obvious to your ears in the absolute stillness and quietness of dawn. I am sure that there are many birders on here that have awoken to this beautiful collective sound many times, as I have, and then knowing they have either or both of these gorgeous species up above them, somewhere… It’s still one of my favourite dawn chorus experiences, and I will never tire of hearing it either. cheers, martin cachard, from the gorgeous trinity beach, cairns. on 31 May 2015, Alan Gillanders wrote: “…Most WS were dusky but White-browed and Masked too.” on 31 May 2015, Ian Sinclair wrote: “…Yesterday late morning a few of us went chasing woodswallows in the Mareeba area. No luck in the Koah and Chewko Road areas, and also out towards Mutchilba. Also no luck initially along Channel Road however on returning from Mutchilba along Channel Road we came across a flock of around 50 or so. Some were definitely White-browed Woodswallows, which was our target species…. When we eventually saw the woodswallows on Channel Road the weather had cleared and warmed up……. It certainly makes a difference in identifying woodswallows when they are sitting on fence lines. Driving between Hughenden and Winton it is easy to identify Woodswallow species at 100 km an hour as they are sitting on the fence close to the road, or soaring just above the car! When they are distant in grey days we found it more difficult. Despite the un-obliging nature of the woodswallows (could have saved us 4 hours of driving around by just being on Channel Road in the morning), it was a good day birding. The other birding highlight was when we stopped at Mutchilba to wait for woodswallows to come to us we saw White-winged Triller – also a sign of dry conditions out west.”

May 31, 2015 at 9:18 pm

Nearly 200 Woodswallows and a 100 Tree Martins on Chewko Road near the railway line crossing this afternoon. Most WS were dusky but White-browed and Masked too. Regards, Alan Alan’s Wildlife Tours 2 Mather Road Yungaburra 4884 Phone 07 4095 3784 Mobile 0408 953 786 http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au/ —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2015 11:41 AM Hi all Yesterday late morning a few of us went chasing woodswallows in the Mareeba area. No luck in the Koah and Chewko Road areas, and also out towards Mutchilba. Also no luck initially along Channel Road however on returning from Mutchilba along Channel Road we came across a flock of around 50 or so. Some were definitely White-browed Woodswallows, which was our target species. The weather in the morning was overcast and drizzly, so we suspect aerial insects would not be out and hence no woodswallows, apart from a few White-breasted Woodswallows doing the usual thing and sitting on power lines. When we eventually saw the woodswallows on Channel Road the weather had cleared and warmed up. It certainly makes a difference in identifying woodswallows when they are sitting on fence lines. Driving between Hughenden and Winton it is easy to identify Woodswallow species at 100 km an hour as they are sitting on the fence close to the road, or soaring just above the car! When they are distant in grey days we found it more difficult. Despite the un-obliging nature of the woodswallows (could have saved us 4 hours of driving around by just being on Channel Road in the morning), it was a good day birding. The other birding highlight was when we stopped at Mutchilba to wait for woodswallows to come to us we saw White-winged Triller – also a sign of dry conditions out west. Ian Sinclair

Birding-Aus

Atherton Tableland Woodswallows

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