Author: Birding-Aus

While we are talking about dead owls, there was an article in today’s Fairfax Press ( http://www.smh.com.au/environment/rats-lord-howes-owls-may-be-sent-home-to-roost-20100622-yvs2.html ) on the Masked Owls that were introduced to LHI and have been thriving on the rat population there – apparently the density of owls is at least ten times that what you would normally find on an equivalent area elsewhere.

Regards, Laurie. ===============================

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G’day,

This is a note to let everyone know of the publication of this 64-page, A6 booklet; a photographic identification guide covering those species seen regularly in South East Queensland. It is a jointly-funded project between Caring for our Country, SEQ Catchments and four local councils: Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Redland and Gold Coast. Brisbane did not participate.

The booklet is available, free-of-charge, from the funding councils, each having their own method of distribution. It has been designed with the general public in mind, in order to raise their awareness and interest in the shorebirds, gulls and terns of the area. The target audience is residents of SEQ and visitors to the area.

However, if anyone else wants to view the publication it is available as a pdf – visit www.sunbittern.com and follow the link to the Publications page. You can then download a pdf of the booklet, although please bear in mind that I have reduced the resolution of the photos to preserve the integrity of both photograph and photographer. It wouldn’t be particularly rewarding to print this lower-quality version.

The booklet contains many excellent photographs by many excellent photographers, some of whom will be well-known to birding-aus subscribers.

Again, please note that the booklets are only available through the distribution channels chosen by the councils (i.e. not from me!)

Cheers – Trevor.

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G’day

Noredah Othman (Marketing Manager, Sabah Tourism) has sent me a tentative program for this years’ bird festival – to be held at the excellent Rainforest Discovery Centre (close to the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary). I believe they are seeking an extra speaker or two, and would like to get into contact with “any bird clubs in Australia who may be interested in attending the event or even exhibiting at the show”.

As Chris Sanderson, Andrew Stafford, Chris Barnes and Carl Clifford can attest, the Borneo Bird Festival is a top event and an excellent launching pad for a birding trip to the region. Airfares to Sandakan from Australia are relatively inexpensive, and the organisers do a good job of looking after their guests.

If you are interested, you can contact Noredah via email at noredah@sabahtourism.com .

The festival website is located at http://www.borneobirdfestival.com/introduction/

The tentative program is as follows:

BORNEO BIRD FESTIVAL

Date: 15 – 17 October 2010

Venue: Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sandakan

Programme

15 October 2010 (Friday)

1000 – 1600hrs – Activities and Booth Exhibitions 1400 – 1600hrs – Launching of the Borneo Bird Festival 2010 1600 – 2000hrs – Bird Race Flag Off – Session 1 1600 – 1800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk

1900 – 2030hrs – Guided Walk – Rainforest by Night

16 October 2010 (Saturday)

0630 – 0800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk 0500 – 0900hrs – Bird Race – Session 2

1000 – 1045hrs – – Talk 1: Birds of Borneo and its Specialty

“Conservation and Tourism”

1000 – 1800hrs – Activities and Booth Exhibitions 1100 – 1145hrs – Talk 2: Hornbill Conservation 1200 – 1245hrs – Talk 3: Eagle Conservation

1245 – 1400hrs – Break – Lunch

1400 – 1445hrs – Talk 4:

1600 – 1800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk 1500 – 1700hrs – Showcase : Environmental Message from Our Children

(Student’s Showcase)

17 October 2010 (Sunday) 0630 – 0800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk 1000 – 1045hrs – Presentation & Workshops (Rainforest Hall, RDC):

– Talk 5: Birdwatching Basics and equipment

1100 – 1145hrs – Talk 6: Birding Asia and the Best Places to Go 1200 – 1245hrs – Talk 7: Hornbill Nestbox 1245 – 1400hrs – Break – Lunch 1400 – 1445hrs – Workshop : Bird As Art – Sketch OR Paint 1500 – 1545hrs – Prize Presentation Ceremony

1) Bird Race

2) Bird Photography

1600 – 1645hrs – Closing and Hi-tea============================== 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 ==============================

G’day

Noredah Othman (Marketing Manager, Sabah Tourism) has sent me a tentative program for this years’ bird festival – to be held at the excellent Rainforest Discovery Centre (close to the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary). I believe they are seeking an extra speaker or two, and would like to get into contact with “any bird clubs in Australia who may be interested in attending the event or even exhibiting at the show”.

As Chris Sanderson, Andrew Stafford, Chris Barnes and Carl Clifford can attest, the Borneo Bird Festival is a top event and an excellent launching pad for a birding trip to the region. Airfares to Sandakan from Australia are relatively inexpensive, and the organisers do a good job of looking after their guests.

If you are interested, you can contact Noredah via email at noredah@sabahtourism.com .

The festival website is located at http://www.borneobirdfestival.com/introduction/

The tentative program is as follows:

BORNEO BIRD FESTIVAL

Date: 15 – 17 October 2010

Venue: Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sandakan

Programme

15 October 2010 (Friday)

1000 – 1600hrs – Activities and Booth Exhibitions 1400 – 1600hrs – Launching of the Borneo Bird Festival 2010 1600 – 2000hrs – Bird Race Flag Off – Session 1 1600 – 1800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk

1900 – 2030hrs – Guided Walk – Rainforest by Night

16 October 2010 (Saturday)

0630 – 0800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk 0500 – 0900hrs – Bird Race – Session 2

1000 – 1045hrs – – Talk 1: Birds of Borneo and its Specialty

“Conservation and Tourism”

1000 – 1800hrs – Activities and Booth Exhibitions 1100 – 1145hrs – Talk 2: Hornbill Conservation 1200 – 1245hrs – Talk 3: Eagle Conservation

1245 – 1400hrs – Break – Lunch

1400 – 1445hrs – Talk 4:

1600 – 1800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk 1500 – 1700hrs – Showcase : Environmental Message from Our Children

(Student’s Showcase)

17 October 2010 (Sunday) 0630 – 0800hrs – Guided Birdwatching Walk 1000 – 1045hrs – Presentation & Workshops (Rainforest Hall, RDC):

– Talk 5: Birdwatching Basics and equipment

1100 – 1145hrs – Talk 6: Birding Asia and the Best Places to Go 1200 – 1245hrs – Talk 7: Hornbill Nestbox 1245 – 1400hrs – Break – Lunch 1400 – 1445hrs – Workshop : Bird As Art – Sketch OR Paint 1500 – 1545hrs – Prize Presentation Ceremony

1) Bird Race

2) Bird Photography

1600 – 1645hrs – Closing and Hi-tea============================== 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 ==============================

A nice story I thought!

http://www.bushheritage.org.au/never-too-young-to-twitch.html

Cheers Liz Headland “Being in touch with the natural world is crucial.” Sir David Attenborough ===============================

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Hi Peter,

I rescue wildlife and get the odd call to pick up an Owl and sometimes find them myself on the road. There are a few things we usually do with the bodies. If in good condition we ask the museum or DECC if they would like it. If a threatened species we also notify DECC for their records. DECC will take some animals to have them taxidermied for their educational displays. We wrap and freeze as mentioned by others.

Another area we use dead specimen’s is at our training courses. WIRES and other licensed wildlife organisations may be interested if you give them a call. The bodies of Owls are used at our Raptor training courses for ID and other workshops. The feathers of dead animals are sometimes used for Imping (a feather repair/replacement technique) in rehab birds. This is done to speed up recovery time and assists with an earlier release. I have not done one of these courses for a few years so I am not certain Imping is still carried out.

The other use of course is as a food source for larger raptors or other animals who may feed on carrion.

Regards

Carla Jackett

To:

” birding-aus@vicnet.net.au” < birding-aus@vicnet.net.au>

Subject:

What to do with a dead owl?

From:

Peter Shute < pshute@nuw.org.au>

Date:

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:18:18 +1000

This morning I found a dead Southern Boobook in Altona, presumably hit by a train during the night. I didn’t have time to do anything about it, as I was on the way to the station, so I hid it in the bushes. What should I do if it’s still there tonight? Should things like this be sent to a museum, or does that only apply to rarer species?

Peter Shute==============================

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G’day Peter et al.

Best to make an appointment with one of the bird curators.  We dropped in to the Melbourne museum with a frozen Frogmouth recently – without an appointment.  The lady who guards the inner sanctum where the curators work was most unhelpful.  No one would answer her phone calls so she basically told us to go away.  Eventually my persistent wife managed to get from her that the staff in the Discovery Centre might help.  They did!  I’ve always taken my birds in frozen by the way.

Cheers Steve ============================== 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 ==============================

This morning I found a dead Southern Boobook in Altona, presumably hit by a train during the night. I didn’t have time to do anything about it, as I was on the way to the station, so I hid it in the bushes. What should I do if it’s still there tonight? Should things like this be sent to a museum, or does that only apply to rarer species?

Peter Shute============================== 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 ==============================

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who responded to my RFI.

Cairns Botanic Garden/Centenary Lakes, Sat, 19th June: Little Kingfisher at Saltwater Creek mangroves (distant looks) Blue Tiger

Cairns Botanic Garden/Centenary Lakes, Sun, 20th June: Red-necked Crake (glimpses of one skulking through dense undergrowth; I think I now know every Scrubfowl and Brush-turkey there by name!) a male Myiagra flycatcher looked good for a Satin Flycatcher (how unlikely would that be?)

Cairns Esplanade, Sun, 20th June: a good number of Great Knots (one in breeding plumage)

Michaelmas Cay, Mon, 21st June: few birds in general, usual suspects, difficult conditions as it was very windy and the water very rough, due to the low tide we weren’t able to surround the cay Hastings Reef: good snorkeling: 3 Anemone Fish species, 3 Angelfish species, 11 Butterflyfish species…

Cheers,

Nikolas

—————- Nikolas Haass nhaass@yahoo.com Sydney, NSW

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A question for cockatoo people with taxonomic knowledge.

Would someone advise and / or confirm that there are currently three subspecies of Glossy Black-Cockatoo recognised? I ask this because Christidis & Boles (2008) appears to provide no details on subspecies.

HANZAB indicates the subspecies as one for Kangaroo Island, another for south central Queensland and the final one coastal se Queensland down to far eastern Victoria. It is this last one I am interested in.

Is its taxonomy now known as

Calyptorhynchus lathami

or

Calyptorhynchus lathami lathami (as indicated by pre-Christidis and Boles 2008 references on this group)

cheers, Martin

Martin O’Brien Wildlife Biologist – Threatened Species & Communities Section Department of Sustainability and Environment 2/8 Nicholson St., East Melbourne 3002 VICTORIA

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2010 the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity – celebrating life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives in Victoria. See http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/

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