I did the (easter) trip from Canberra to Melbourne as a passenger of my neighbour on Thursday and return on Monday. There were no birding stops (indeed only a short stop) and he was a rather fast driver. Probably more raptors than I have encountered in recent years (several BsK, Brown Falcons, Little Eagles, Whistling Kites, Kestrels). Notable was a collection of about 30 Black Kites within about 2 km at about 10 km south of Chiltern. I have not encountered this species (as in at least 1), more often than I have encountered them, on many trips over 3 decades but not ever seen so many in that region before. This bit copied from the Birdline Victoria is consistent.
Black Kite Tungamah Another large flock of Black Kites (55) seen circling over a stubble fire east of Tungamah. Four Black Falcons also seen with the kites. Michael Ramsey
Black Kite Dookie Black Kites have been lurking around Dookie for the last week but a flock of 46 circling over burning stubble this afternoon is the most I have seen here. Michael Ramsey
===============================
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 ===============================
Hello Geoff,
I met Peter Disher at some of the BOCA easter and christmas camps. In 1984 easter camp he ran a feather identification quiz for those present which I won. The prize was a boomerang that he had made. It still sits above my bedroom door.
In my note below I forgot to mention also several Wedge-tailed Eagles. This flock of Black Kites were seen on Thursday. I think I only saw one on the return trip on Monday. That is probably only a random difference, related to the timing of my passing through.
Also for what it is worth my obs of the Jaegers at St Kilda Beach was on Saturday 30 March.
Philip
I have also noticed a few Black Kites around the Yea area where I have just moved which surprised me. They have got more frequent in the South of Victoria over recent years. Years ago I moved to Barham and they were a new bird for me. I had a wonderful old birding mentor named Peter Disher whom many of you would have probably known. I had just moved to town and took a trip to the local rubbish tip where a large flock of Black Kites was circling. I saw Peter Disher in the newsagent next day and he said, Have you seen the Fork-tails out at the Barham tip? I said, Yeah, wow, I reckon there were a hundred! He seemed surprised and said, Really? I only counted 93! At that point I realised that real birders take numbers seriously!
Geoff Leslie
Hi Mick
Those sightings reflect what we are seeing down here around Geelong / Melbourne / Western Treatment Plant. We haven’t had the big numbers of Black Kites but we are certainly getting a lot of reports of Spotted Harrier and Black Falcon, plus other BOP in places where they are less frequently seen.
If you can herd those Letter-winged Kites further south it would be great … I’ve yet to see one.
Russell Woodford
Geelong
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
There is certainly a extraordinary number of Whistling Kites in the Hawkesbury with an unheard of 12 at Pitt Town lagoon last Sat.and 7 at Bushells lagoon the day prior.
There has been something of an irruption of Black Kites in coastal catchments in NSW as well. Birdline seems to be littered with them. Here in the Hunter they are generally scarce and ‘report-worthy’ when seen but in the past 2 weeks they have been reported from many sites, some quite coastal (e.g. Hexham Swamp). The biggest aggregation has been at Maitland Tip, where 50+ birds have been reported in the past week (this has happened there before though). There also seems to be a perceived increase in Spotted Harrier and Black Falcon reports, as well as numbers of raptors generally (often in the vicinity of wetlands). There have also been a couple of interesting Grey Falcon reports in NSW, one 20km north-west of Moree and the other in the vicinity of Weddin Mountains. These are not places I would normally have expected Grey Falcons to be. A Letter-winged Kite was also reported at Wanganella (between Deniliquin and Hay) on the 18th March. With all of these other raptor reports seemingly increasing, perhaps we’ll start seeing more Letter-winged Kite reports as well? Mick
________________________________ Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2013 11:27 AM
I did the (easter) trip from Canberra to Melbourne as a passenger of my neighbour on Thursday and return on Monday. There were no birding stops (indeed only a short stop) and he was a rather fast driver. Probably more raptors than I have encountered in recent years (several BsK, Brown Falcons, Little Eagles, Whistling Kites, Kestrels). Notable was a collection of about 30 Black Kites within about 2 km at about 10 km south of Chiltern. I have not encountered this species (as in at least 1), more often than I have encountered them, on many trips over 3 decades but not ever seen so many in that region before. This bit copied from the Birdline Victoria is consistent.
Black Kite Tungamah Another large flock of Black Kites (55) seen circling over a stubble fire east of Tungamah. Four Black Falcons also seen with the kites. Michael Ramsey
Black Kite Dookie Black Kites have been lurking around Dookie for the last week but a flock of 46 circling over burning stubble this afternoon is the most I have seen here. Michael Ramsey
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org/ =============================== ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================