Birding-Aus Digest, Vol 26, Issue 25

By Birding-Aus, on December 28th, 2015

He must have plenty of money. David Robertson On Mon, Dec 28th, 2015 at 3:30 AM, birding-aus-request@birding-aus.org wrote: > Send Birding-Aus mailing list submissions to > birding-aus@birding-aus.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org > or, via email, send a message with subject or body ‘help’ to > birding-aus-request@birding-aus.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > birding-aus-owner@birding-aus.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than “Re: Contents of Birding-Aus digest…” > > > Today’s Topics: > > 1. Noah Strycker’s World Big Year – SW Australia (Frank O’Connor) > 2. Re: Upper Lane Cover River Valley – S Turramurra area (Peter Ewin) > 3. Boxing Day Needletails (Peter Ewin) > 4. Re: Boxing Day Needletails (Greg and Val Clancy) > 5. Birdpedia – Australia – Weekly Digest (Birdpedia – Australia Info) > > > ———————————————————————- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 09:28:26 +0800 > From: Frank O’Connor < foconnor@iinet.net.au> > To: “birdswa Google Group” < birdswa@googlegroups.com>, > birding-aus@birding-aus.org > Cc: Noah Strycker < noah.strycker@gmail.com> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Noah Strycker’s World Big Year – SW Australia > Message-ID: <98351c$cqcbl9@icp-osb-irony-out2.iinet.net.au> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii”; format=flowed > > > A very different Christmas as I showed Noah Strycker around for 2.5 > days. For those who don’t know, Noah has been doing a big year and > has been birding every day since January 1st. See his blog at > http://audubon.org/noah His goal was for 5,000 species for the year, > but he was on 5,949 and heading towards 6,000!! I had met Noah > earlier in the year as he was part of the Rockjumper Bird Tours > extension to Shiripuno Lodge in the Amazonian rainforest in SE > Ecuador (where it rained, and rained, and rained and the river rose 9 > feet and trees were falling over!!!). > > I had hoped that I could show him 60 or more species. But he did > exceptionally well in Queensland (Cairns, Brisbane), Melbourne and > Tasmania. And he changed from the original 3.5 days to 2.5 days. So > the final list of possibles were 53, but many of these would need > exceptional luck. I made a guess on the percentages and came out with > 31.6 (call it 32). His flight from NZ was 40 minutes early, which > then raised Western (still Rufous in Clements terminology) Fieldwren > to almost a certainty so 33 would be par. > > So on Christmas Eve I picked him up at the Perth International > Airport and we were away at 13:30. We had 400+ kms to go to Payne’s > Find on the Great Northern Highway. It was windy, and we saw very > little. At New Norcia the Western Corellas were in force posing for > photographs, and shortly after an Australian Ringneck (Port Lincoln > Parrot in Clements terminology) flew across the road, and then we > drove past some Black-faced Woodswallows (how did he miss that in the > east?). With the extra time available I went up the southern entrance > towards Charles Darwin Reserve to bird in the Unallocated Crown Land > south of CDR. Western (Rufous) Fieldwren was quite easy as expected > and Redthroat responded to give good views. But no Black-eared > Cuckoo, Black-breasted Buzzard, Malleefowl, Southern Scrubrobin, > Southern Whiteface, White-fronted Honeyeater, Tawny-crowned > Honeyeater that could have been possible. The wind! We continued to > Payne’s Find arriving at 20:30. No Spotted Nightjar in the dark. > > Christmas Day. The first I have spent birding. We were off at 05:00. > Windy! We stopped at the grid at the 7km mark on the Sandstone Road. > Nothing calling!!! But we did track down the White-browed > Treecreeper and a bonus of a group of Slaty-backed Thornbills. No > Southern Whiteface!!! No Black-eared Cuckoo. We continued to the > Warne River crossing 50km east of Payne’s Find. Again silence along > the river. No water there at all. It looked like it hasn’t rained > here for a long time. Chiming Wedgebill eventually called and we had > very poor views. No White-fronted Honeyeater (or any of the nomadic > honeyeaters). Little Crow was a bonus. I have seen them there in the > past, but I missed them in May when I was last there, so I thought we > might miss this. And Splendid Fairywren was there. Things were going > very poorly. Then some birds flew and bingo! Fantastic views of > Bourke’s Parrots and Mulga Parrots and Noah spotted a female Crimson > Chat walking on the ground. No Southern Whiteface, Black-eared Cuckoo > or Red-backed Kingfisher. > > We headed back towards Payne’s Find. A single eucalypt was flowering > so I did a quick U turn. Nothing in the tree. But then the magic call > of White-fronted Honeyeater. I thought that had got away. Several > more stops along the way but still no Black-eared Cuckoo or Southern > Whiteface. Got some more Slaty-backed Thornbills! SBTs but no SWs? > Crazy. We then visited the old mine next to Payne’s Find to look for > White-backed Swallow. Stewart Ford said his team had them there on > the Twitchathon in mid November. Little Woodswallows (but he had seen > one outside Brisbane) were nice to see in the pit, and there were > some Fairy Martins flying around (but he had seen those). But no > White-backed Swallows. But we did get one Southern Whiteface in a > mixed flock of thornbills. > > We then headed south on Maranalgo Road to my Grey Honeyeater > site.Terry Witt (from the US) had been there there in the past > fortnight and had seen Grey Honeyeater and Major MItchell’s Cockatoos > along the road. I have seen Ground Cuckooshrike, Budgerigar, > Red-backed Kingfisher, Orange Chat, Black Honeyeater, Pied > Honeyeater, etc along this road in the past. But we struck out. Yes, > the wind! And the exceptionally dry conditions. So we added 13 > species we wouldn’t get out of Perth. I had expected 15+ and I was > hoping for 20+. > > I considered heading back to Perth via Beacon and Wongan Hills, but > being Christmas Day I was worried about whether we could get fuel. My > turbo diesel Subaru Forester has exceptional range (900km+), but it > would be marginal to make it back to Perth especially with the wind > reducing the fuel efficiency. So we headed back to Wubin. No > Black-breasted Buzzard, Regent Parrot, Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, > Red-backed Kingfisher or Black-eared Cuckoo. No fuel in Wubin, but > relief with fuel in Dalwallinu. So we headed for Wongan Hills. The > birdswa email list had given me information about sites there for > White-backed Swallow and Southern Scrubrobin and I have seen > Purple-gaped Honeyeater at Ballidu in the past. Just north of Ballidu > Noah spotted some swallows. A quick U turn and yes there was a pair > of White-backed Swallows. I always think these are wonderful when I > see them. No Purple-gaped Honeyeaters in the mallee across the road > from Ballidu. And then we visited several sites around Wongan Hills. > Reynoldson Reserve had a flock of White-backed Swallows (20+!!). I > have never seen them in a flock before. But no matter where we looked > there was no Southern Scrubrobin. Fabulous habitat for them in many > places, with the poorest habitat at Mount Matilda which was a site > given to me where they would be near the car park. We finally > admitted defeat and headed for Perth via Goomalling and Toodyay > arriving after 20:30. So the total was 17 species, but this included > some we would see around Perth. > > Boxing Day and we left before 05:00. First stop was the Anstey Keane > reserve off Armadale Road. A good site I was told for Tawny-crowned > Honeyeater, and Robyn Pickering gave me an excellent mud map. The > wind! No TCHEs. But a pair of Elegant Parrots flew overhead, and as I > was getting into the car I heard what sounded like Regent Parrot. We > walked back along the road, and yes there were two Regent Parrots in > the trees. I missed this on my recce the previous weekend, so a > bonus. I checked out the heath on Stirling Road but it had been > burnt, and the banksia woodland at the NE of Forrestdale Lake. No > Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters. But as we started off, Noah spotted some > cockatoos. We tracked them down at the end of Moore Street and a > group of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos were feeding busily in a couple of > pine trees. > > Next was Admiral Road. No Western Wattlebird (but they would be easy > later) and no Baudin’s Black Cockatoos which I had heard the previous > week. Did I mention the wind? A quick stop in Bungendore SF to lock > in Western Yellow Robin and Western Spinebill. The latter proved > difficult. It called but didn’t give us any views. Varied Sittella > was good to see, but Noah had seen this in PNG (Clements doesn’t > split Papuan Sittella). So we stopped next at the Gleneagle Rest Area > to see the spinebill. I had struck out there on the recce. But a > different story this time with Western Spinebill and Gilbert’s > Honeyeater very easy. And Western Whistler, but Clements has yet to > split this. And then we heard Baudin’s Black Cockatoos fly past. > Heard is good enough for the twitch. Next stop was Wearne Road off > the Albany Highway just north of North Bannister. I had never birded > here, but I know that several teams start here for the Twitchathon. > So Robyn Pickering gave me an excellent mud map for the area, and I > visited here on the recce the week before. An excellent site that I > will continue to visit. Western Thornbill was fairly easy on the > drive in. Scarlet Robin is a potential split so one for Noah’s bank. > The birding was harder than the recce (and no not because of the > wind!) but we did get the target Rufous Treecreeper, Yellow-plumed > Honeyeater, Red-capped Parrot, Blue-breasted Fairywren and Western > Rosella. We also saw Gilbert’s Honeyeater, Hooded Robin, Rufous > Songlark, Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo. But we missed Crested (Western) > Shriketit and Painted Buttonquail. I had seen the CST on the recce. > > Next we drove to Dwellingup to my Twitchathon site on River Road. > Very quiet for the first few minutes. Where were the Western > Wattlebirds that were abundant the week before? And the Red-winged > Fairywren and White-breasted Robin that had been waiting for me the > week before on the recce? And then it happened in quick succession. > Red-eared Firetail flew across the road. Western Wattlebird flew into > a tree just up the road. A party of Red-winged Fairywrens worked > their way along the side of the road for Noah to photograph. And two > White-breasted Robins stayed inside the vegetation but gave good > views and Noah got a photo. And then two Red-eared Firetails flew up > onto the power line for Noah to photograph. > > 11:30 and we had seen all the certainties. So where to now? Out of > the way but the decision was Collins Road off the Brookton Highway. > This was a site I regularly visit, but it had been quiet the two > times I visited this year, except for Crested Shriketit which I got > both times, and Painted Buttonquail had been common back in April. We > headed down the escarpment to Pinjarra and headed north on the South > West Highway to Armadale. I hoped to jag a Square-tailed Kite along > the way but no such luck. Then out along Brookton Highway. Again no > luck with STK. We got to Collins Road at 13:00. For the first 40 > minutes we did well with Western Yellow Robin, Rufous Treecreeper, > Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, Rufous Songlark, Blue-breasted Fairywren > etc but none of these were new. We had just found some fresh > buttonquail platelets when a Crested Shriketit did something they > very seldom do. It gave a single call. This lack of calling is part > of what makes them so hard to locate. We moved to roughly where we > thought it had called, played the call and bingo!! There it was. And > a second bird called in the mid distance. And this was the middle of > a warm day (32C)! We returned to the area of platelets and it wasn’t > long before Noah flushed a Painted Buttonquail. > > 14:00 and what to do now? We could stake out Victoria Dam and hope a > Square-tailed Kite flew over, and at dusk we could go to Lake > Joondalup and hope for a Black-backed Bittern to call. Both a long > way from being certainties. We could revisit Anstey Keane for a > second try at the Tawny-crowned Honeyeater. But this is a > Twitch!! So let’s head east to look for Southern Scrubrobin, > Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Purple-gaped Honeyeater and maybe even a > Malleefowl. In retrospect not the best decision, given the very dry > conditions and the stiff breeze. We made it to Corrigin where we > stopped in many places that looked excellent for Southern Scrubrobin, > and where I have seen that and Tawny-crowned Honeyeater in the past, > and one site that had potential for Purple-gaped Honeyeater, and one > site with some flowering poker grevilleas (White-cheeked Honeyeater > but no Tawny-crowned). But it was to not to be. Fuel could again be > an issue returning to Perth, but we managed to refuel at Corrigin. It > was after 17:00 and it would have been 18:30 by the time we made it > to Hyden so we turned around and tried several more excellent sites > for Southern Scrubrobin without success. We returned to Perth. Still > no success with Square-tailed Kite along Brookton Highway, but we did > see three Baudin’s Black Cockatoos at Roleystone. It was last light > as we went along Armadale Road. I have done Western Ground Parrot > surveys and heard Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters calling until the very > last light, so we revisited the Anstey Keane Reserve. Excellent > conditions with no wind. But no Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters. > > So the total was 35 species. Not bad and better than par, but I was > hoping for 40+. But wait. I checked my email at 22:00 last night just > before heading for bed and with many thanks to Ross Jones he reported > Tawny-crowned Honeyeater at Kensington Reserve. Noah had an 08:30 > departure, so plenty of time to have a look on the way to the > airport. Bingo. There it was sitting on top of a flowering banksia. > So the final total was 36 bringing his year total to 5,985. With a 7 > hour lay over in Singapore (where Con Foley will show him around), > and then 3 days in north east India near the Burma border, he should > comfortably make the 6,000. > > If we had the extra day that he had planned, I would have stayed an > extra night at Payne’s Find and spent a day birding north to Mt > Magnet and Cue, or maybe we could have visited Kirkalocka Station. > Hopefully we would have got Western Quailthrush, Orange Chat, Banded > Whiteface, Western Bowerbird, Red-backed Kingfisher and we would have > had chances for Budgerigar, Diamond Dove, Slender-billed Thornbill, > Spotted Nightjar, Black-breasted Buzzard, Black-eared Cuckoo, Grey > Honeyeater, Little Buttonquail. But he needed to average 13.7 a day > for 5,000 and 16.5 a day for 6,000 so he almost certainly made the > right decision. > > A different time of year would have helped. In May I had Black > Honeyeater, Black-eared Cuckoo, Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, Ground > Cuckooshrike, Black-breasted Buzzard and Budgerigar in the area. And > I would have contacted Charles Darwin Reserve for permission and we > might have seen Regent Parrot, Southern Scrubrobin, Major Mitchell’s > Cockatoo, Black-eared Cuckoo, Budgerigar, Crimson Chat and Malleefowl > could also have been a chance. > > The biggest difference would be to have had a good season. It has > been a very bad season and conditions were very dry. A good season > would almost certainly have added 3 to 6 species. > > But on the plus side we had reasonable temperatures. The three days > before had been 39C in Perth, and today is forecast to be 36C. We had > high twenties and low thirties which were pleasant. Although lighter > winds would have made it easier. Boxing Day morning was cool early on > and we needed light sweaters. > > It was fun and a very different way to spend Christmas. We travelled > over 2,000kms in the 2.5 days!! Good luck to Noah for his final few > days. I look forward to the book. > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Frank O’Connor Birding WA > http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au > Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email : foconnor@iinet.net.au > > > > > —————————— > > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 15:30:45 +1100 > From: Peter Ewin < sittella@hotmail.com> > To: < wilsonsinoz@optusnet.com.au>, < birding-aus@birding-aus.org> > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Upper Lane Cover River Valley – S > Turramurra area > Message-ID: < COL126-W14D9F172030099D34DB953D1FA0@phx.gbl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”Windows-1252″ > > Tom, > I have spent a few days around Christmas at my inlaws at Pennant Hills > (Blackbutt avenue) just near Pennant Hills park and upper Lane Cove NP. > The weather hasn’t been great for walking but I am back in a few days and > I will probably head down the same way around New Years. > I regularly (though not every trip) see Gang Gangs around their house – > the native nursery is just around the corner. This trip I think I have > heard gang gangs a couple of times (though difficult amongst the many > sulphur-cresteds) but I also don’t pay much attention as I get them in my > backyard at this time of year in Albury as well. > I will let you know once I return if the are definitely about. > Cheers, > Peter > > > From: wilsonsinoz@optusnet.com.au > > To: birding-aus@birding-aus.org > > Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2015 12:41:28 +1100 > > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Upper Lane Cover River Valley – S Turramurra > area > > > > Hi all > > I spent from 7-9am walking parts of the Great North Walk and STEP track > in the Upper Lane Cove Valley this morning (20 December). Highlight was a > single Bassian Thrush seen foraging in the Great North Walk just north of > Browns Waterhole approx 8:30am. There were lost of Scarlet Honeyeaters > along the track as well as 3 Rufous Fantails and the more common species > that I’d expect to see. A colony of Bell Miners has taken up residence in > the area around Browns Waterhole, which is new since my last visit (some > time in 2014 admittedly). There were no Gang-gangs seen or heard ? > although it is entirely possible that the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos > drowned out anything else as they were particularly loud this morning. > Are there still a small number of Gang-gangs resident in the upper Lane > Cove Valley or if I want to get one on my 2015 list do I need to go a bit > further afield? > > Cheers > > Tom Wilson > >

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Birding-Aus Digest, Vol 26, Issue 25

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