Emus and Pines and YTBCs

By Birding-Aus, on August 5th, 2015

> Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos love seeds from pine-cones. When/Pinus radiata/ plantations first became mature and FCV workers wanted to collect seed for more plantings, they found YTBCs were attacking the cones and threatened to start shooting them. Then they found that 1)the cockies tended to drop the cones after eating a few seeds from the tops, and 2) the cockies were much better judges of the ripeness of the seeds than the men were. So the men picked up the fallen, slightly bitten coneas and everyone was happy. I notice that cones found under the local trees seem to have been completely chewed to pieces, but the culprits are Sulphur-crested Cockatoos which will feed on the ground. I have never seen YTBCs on the ground Anthea Fleming . On 5/08/2015 7:45 AM, Peter Shute wrote: > Are there any Australian birds that use pine plantations for anything other than refuge? The few times I’ve bothered birding in them, birds have been almost totally absent. I made a morning recording on one, and captured only distant calls. > > Peter Shute >> —–Original Message—– >> From: Birding-Aus >> [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@birding-aus.org] On Behalf Of David Clark >> Sent: Tuesday, 4 August 2015 8:20 PM >> To: Geoff Ryan >> Cc: birding-aus >> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Emus and Pines >> >> Geoff >> >> Emus are quite common in the coastal area west of Portland >> right through to the Murray mouth. However, I suspect that >> the pines (and they are *Pinus >> radiata*) are only used as a refuge. The generally wide >> areas between the plantations and roads provide forage but >> there would be slim pickings for emus in the plantations themselves. >

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albirdo

August 5, 2015 at 10:56 pm

HI Harry, Superb Lyrebirds and Bassian Thrush like pine forests for the earthworms under the litter. Regards, Allan

harrynystrom

August 5, 2015 at 8:16 pm

Hello from Finland, where pines are aplenty. I hope other non-Australian readers, such as Wim Vader from Norway, will contribute more as I will surely forget something. Indeed, Capercaillie eats pine sprouts, which is an important food source especially during winters. With pines I mainly mean Scots pine, *Pinus sylvestris*. Other notable species in pine forests are Crossbills, especially Parrot Crossbills, which use their plier-like beaks to open pine cones to get to the seeds. Other Crossbills use also pine (although they might prefer other conifers), so it is not exclusive to Parrot CBs. Some tits, like the European Crested Tit and Siberian Tit are common in pine forests and mainly nest in that habitat. European Nightjar is also a typical open pine forest species in Southern Finland during Summers (the nights seem to be too bright for it in Northern Finland). Common Redstart is also a typical pine forest species, although is typically also seen in gardens. And where there are Redstarts, there are also Common Cuckoos. Several insectivores use young pines to hunt for e.g. spiders. Pines are also typical for marshes and bogs, which function as a birthplace for millions of mosquitoes, and they form a significant food for several small passerines, such as Goldcrests and Willow Warblers. Nevertheless, the biodiversity of pure heath-type dry pine forests is quite poor. Pine cones are important food also to Red Squirrels. Lastly I have to add that planted Macedonian Pines (*Pinus peuce*) and Swiss Pines (*Pinus cembra*) are an important food source for Eurasian Nutcrackers. Spruce forests, on the other hand, have usually different kinds of birds ranging from Great Grey and Ural Owls to Three-toed Woodpeckers, Goshawks, Willow Grouse, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers (they use the seeds in the cones for food), Chiffchaffs, Wrens, Red Crossbills etc. On the Eastern border and in Northern Finland there are also some nice species like Red-flanked Bluetail, Pine Grosbeak, Two-barred Crossbill, Siberian Jay etc. Also, Goldcrests are far more common in spruce than pine forests. Otherwise, the forests are typically a mix of trees, not solely something. Of course the main component might be pines in many forests, especially on drier heath land, but there are also some birches, spruces, rowans and alders when the ground gets a bit more moist. When I was in Orange, New South Wales in 2012, we saw a Swamp Wallaby in a planted pine forest and also several White-throated Treecreepers singing on the edges of the forests. Also, one Eastern Rosella flew into one. Otherwise they looked like too dense (i.e. too close to each other) and biodiversity-wise too poor (no understorey etc.) for abundant wildlife in my Finnish pine forest point-of-view. Cheers, -Harry 2015-08-05 7:30 GMT+03:00 brian fleming < flambeau@labyrinth.net.au>:

penny

August 5, 2015 at 3:43 pm

Dear all When doing bird surveys in the Bathurst district and Sunny Corner State Forest where there are large pine plantations, we observed native birds using the edges of the pine plantations, maybe roosting in them at night but leaving them early morning to forage in the nearby native vegetations, particularly along the creek lines where logging was disallowed. Somebody published a study on this subject making the point that edges were used by small woodland birds but not much further in than maybe 50 meters – but I may have got that distance wrong. Was a long time ago that I read that paper. Once we witnessed somethng like 500 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos flying into roost in a pine plantation, groups of 20 – 50 (rough estimate) flying in with much noise to find a space not already occupied. Great sight!

martinflab

August 5, 2015 at 3:24 pm

At our place just outside Queanbeyan the Yellow-tails are leaving many traces of their presence as shown in the snaps on my blog post . Martin Butterfield http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/ On 5 August 2015 at 10:19, brian fleming < flambeau@labyrinth.net.au> wrote:

flambeau

August 5, 2015 at 2:30 pm

I believe boreal conifer forests in Northern Hemisphere have a considerable bird fauna. According to the books, the huge grouse species the Capercaillie eats pine sprouts. Time to open a European field guide. Anthea Fleming On 5/08/2015 2:15 PM, Roger Giller wrote:

rgiller

August 5, 2015 at 2:15 pm

What is the situation in the northern hemisphere, with their very extensive natural pine forests? Are they as sterile as our plantations of introduced pines are, with low species diversity and numbers, or have the birds co-evolved with the pines? Roger Giller. —–Original Message—– Greg and Val Clancy Sent: Wednesday, 5 August 2015 11:41 AM I have observed Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos feeding on fallen Macadamia and Pecan Nuts on the ground in South Grafton but his is unusual. We must not forget that no matter how much bird habitat introduced pines provide, and this would appear to be very limited, they are no substitute for the local natural vegetation. Regards Greg Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460 | 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960 http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/ —–Original Message—– Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 10:19 AM I notice that cones found under the local trees seem to have been completely chewed to pieces, but the culprits are Sulphur-crested Cockatoos which will feed on the ground. I have never seen YTBCs on the ground Anthea Fleming .

tonyashton0

August 5, 2015 at 1:55 pm

I’ve noticed Golden Whistlers foraging busily in several pine plantations over the years. Red-tailed Black Cockatoos love chomping into green cones. On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 11:41 AM, Greg and Val Clancy < gclancy@tpg.com.au> wrote:

gclancy

August 5, 2015 at 11:41 am

I have observed Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos feeding on fallen Macadamia and Pecan Nuts on the ground in South Grafton but his is unusual. We must not forget that no matter how much bird habitat introduced pines provide, and this would appear to be very limited, they are no substitute for the local natural vegetation. Regards Greg Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460 | 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960 http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/ —–Original Message—– Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 10:19 AM I notice that cones found under the local trees seem to have been completely chewed to pieces, but the culprits are Sulphur-crested Cockatoos which will feed on the ground. I have never seen YTBCs on the ground Anthea Fleming .

Birding-Aus

Emus and Pines and YTBCs

8 comments to Emus and Pines and YTBCs

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