My family and I observed a Buff-banded Rail foraging in the front garden of our Box Hill (VIC) home in early-mid June (13 and 18).
We saw it again (presumably the same one!) on Friday and Saturday (22 and 23 July).
Our garden has a dense Westringia hedge and solid clumps of tussock grasses, Lomandras and Dianellas and it would be very easy for a Rail to remain unobserved. However, when we have seen it, it seems unconcerned and continues foraging, preening, etc.
Our neighbourhood is characterised by fairly conventional gardens with lawns and exotic plants and we live opposite a park with native trees, regularly mown grass and some understory plants. The nearest wetlands are Blackburn Lake (2km as the rail flies) and Koonung Creek (about 2.2km away).
Any suggestions as to what it is up to?
David
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Comments
7 responses to “Resident Rail?”
G’day David & others
Buff-banded Rails are often found at Wurundjeri Walk (Fulton Rd Blackburn South) & that is a good deal closer than Blackburn Lake. However, rails can fly a long way – usually at night. In PNG they used to turn up at a lake high up in Varirata NP for short periods & then disappear again. Just as they would at the three lakes at Pacific Adventist University, on the coastal plain towards Port Moresby.
Black-fronted Dotterels also fly at night. I did some work on them in NZ and found that they would feed in the sludge ponds at the Freezing works until about 50 mins after sunset then fly off to sleep on the shingle beds of the Manawatu River. They would leave the river at least an hour before sunrise to return. I have heard them flying over in the middle of the night at least once in Australia. Come to think of it swans & ducks often fly at night.
At least you can see these rails in your own yard, I have to go over the road to see them.
Cheers
Mike =================== Michael Tarburton tarburton.m@optusnet.com.au ===================
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I believe everything you say David but Hanzab is much too expensive. However, race tounelieri is still listed in Ken Simpson’s 8th edition (2010) p 68, so me being a “splitter” that will do me for now.
Tony
Buff-banded rail is a species that shows a marked case of a phenomenon sometimes termed “ecological release”. This is a condition hypothesised to involve a widening of niche and behaviour when a species is removed from competition and/or predation and/or occurs in a more simple ecosystem than usual. Hence, it is mostly seen on islands, but also on mountain tops. BBR is very common and bold on many islands of the GBR and Coral Sea. Many island birds show ecological release, such as island white-eyes. Another great example is Swamp Harrier in NZ and certain S Pacific islands. Tony, subspecies “tounerlieri” of Buff-Banded Rail (The Great Barrier Reef form) is not a good subspecies at all. It was sorted out in HANZAB 2 (1993). The type series was mostly juveniles and the characters given to distinguish it were mostly juvenile characters and behaviour. That lots of juveniles occur in a sample of a population that is super abundant (like BBR on small islands) is hardly surprising. It is an example of why taxonomists should age birds carefully and consider a bit of ecology. David James, Sydney burunglaut07@yahoo.com ==============================
Sent: Wednesday, 27 July 2011 10:44 AM
Lady Elliott Island also has them running around in the dining areas. Race tounelieri.
Tony
Lady Elliott Island also has them running around in the dining areas. Race tounelieri.
Tony
David Clark wrote: “… Lord Howe Island is definitely the place to see Buff-banded Rails! I think that the Lord Howe Rails have been able to exploit an environmental niche and their range and behaviour is quite different to mainland birds.”
I think David’s comment probably applies to rails widening their niches in many island habitats – I recall the Buff Banded Rails on Heron Island in 1993 practically being residents of the resort dining room and the waiters telling us that they had to shoo them off the butter. We had one in our cabin…which was a bit of a surprise when I came out of the bathroom. Cheers Tom Wilson
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Sonja
Yes, Lord Howe Island is definitely the place to see Buff-banded Rails!
I think that the Lord Howe Rails have been able to exploit an environmental niche and their range and behaviour is quite different to mainland birds.
Regards
David
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Hi David,
I don’t know if it is comparable, but when we visited Lord Howe Island several years ago, the place we stayed had at least one resident in their garden. It was a high area above the beach, and not obviously close to water like a dam, so maybe they are not absolutely tied to water.
Sonja Ross
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Hi David,
I don’t know if it is comparable, but when we visited Lord Howe Island several years ago, the place we stayed had at least one resident in their garden. It was a high area above the beach, and not obviously close to water like a dam, so maybe they are not absolutely tied to water.
Sonja Ross
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