Migration in Willie Wagtails

By Birding-Aus, on June 12th, 2015

There is a greater winter migration in Willie Wagtails than is realised. On the vast near treeless plains in central western Queensland during winter, e.g. Hughenden, Longreach, Winton, Boulia, Bedourie, there are thousands of Willie Wagtails which spend the winter in basically scattered low shrubbery, along fencelines and in grasslands. Driving the roads, Wagtails are about every 100-200 metres. One will see several hundred in a 100 km stretch. When I lived at Jandowae on the Darling Downs in the 1960-70s, thousands of Willie Wagtails would move in to harvested sorghum crops and spend the winter in the stubble – right up until the paddocks were ploughed. There must have been many thousands across those grain growing areas of the Darling Downs. By about late August, they were all gone. The summer population in the woodlands away from the open plains was normal – just an odd pair here and there. Lloyd Nielsen, Mt Molloy, Nth Qld www.birdingaustralia.com.au

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cbrandis

June 15, 2015 at 3:06 pm

The New Atlas shows this clearly when comparing summer and winter recording rate maps. The summer maps may be affected slightly by observer participation during the less visited times of summer but this should not be too much for an easily reconisable common bird. Cheers Chris

flambeau

June 14, 2015 at 8:08 pm

Here in Ivanhoe and Heidelberg, in Melbourne, Willy Wagtails largely disappear in winter. I have always wondered where they go. Anthea Fleming On 14/06/2015 4:34 PM, Philip Veerman wrote:

June 14, 2015 at 8:06 pm

On 14/06/2015 4:34 PM, Philip Veerman wrote:

gclancy

June 14, 2015 at 12:07 pm

Hi Lloyd, Thank you for supporting my view that Willie Wagtails are likely to be a latitudinal migrant during the autumn-winter. The number that can be seen along roads and tracks in northern NSW in the cooler months is certainly greater than what the local population with the year’s offspring would make. Your detailed observations have added greatly to this topic. 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: Friday, June 12, 2015 2:08 PM There is a greater winter migration in Willie Wagtails than is realised. On the vast near treeless plains in central western Queensland during winter, e.g. Hughenden, Longreach, Winton, Boulia, Bedourie, there are thousands of Willie Wagtails which spend the winter in basically scattered low shrubbery, along fencelines and in grasslands. Driving the roads, Wagtails are about every 100-200 metres. One will see several hundred in a 100 km stretch. When I lived at Jandowae on the Darling Downs in the 1960-70s, thousands of Willie Wagtails would move in to harvested sorghum crops and spend the winter in the stubble – right up until the paddocks were ploughed. There must have been many thousands across those grain growing areas of the Darling Downs. By about late August, they were all gone. The summer population in the woodlands away from the open plains was normal – just an odd pair here and there. Lloyd Nielsen, Mt Molloy, Nth Qld http://www.birdingaustralia.com.au

sittella

June 14, 2015 at 8:35 am

Yes I found this a fascinating read too – I had no idea so thanks for sharing! On 12 June 2015 at 14:08, Lloyd Nielsen < lloyd.nielsen@optusnet.com.au> wrote: — Marie Tarrant Kobble Creek, Qld

peter

June 14, 2015 at 8:18 am

I’ve just been reading about miniature GPS tags weighing about 1g being used to track the non-breeding ranges of Ovenbirds: http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150609/srep11069/full/srep11069.html Ovenbirds are about the size of a sparrow, so surely these tags could be carried by most Australian species, and these migration questions could be answered. Unfortunately they have to be retrieved to download the collected location data, so they could only be used for retrappable species. No idea how much they cost. The article implies they’re cheaper than the bigger ones that transmit the coordinates, which I’m told cost around $5000, but doesn’t say how much cheaper. Peter Shute Sent from my iPad

mcachard

June 14, 2015 at 5:12 am

Hi Lloyd, Yes, that IS a very good point indeed! I was thinking the same thing when reading about the note someone made a day or 3 ago in that thread on here which Graeme Chapman started on the Pink Robin migration. I recall Lloyd that you and I discussed this quickly about a year ago after you had taken note of this migration over the years, and you had asked me about whether I’d noticed the same thing… Well, for the benefit of this important topic, I most definitely have noticed this too, and in exactly those parts of Qld. I have seen this influx in the southern two-thirds of NT in the cooler months as well. But isn’t it funny, or perhaps I should a shame, how we tend to forget about seeing such things with commonly seen species like Willie Wagtails – I’m just glad that people like you out there Lloyd take note of such things, because if you hadn’t have mentioned it, then I’m absolutely positive that I’d never have given this a second thought!! Cheers for that martin cachard, trinity beach (it’s still very dark here now, but I feel a nice calm peaceful sun-rise coming on in about 100 minutes or so…), cairns.

Birding-Aus

Migration in Willie Wagtails

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