Hi Greg & Birders,
Yes, Drongos have been here in profusion. On 22/01/13 I recorded a noisy party of 15 newly arrived here at Gibraltar Reserve NSW, map available here; http://birdranger.wildiaries.com/
There were several more the following day, and on 24/01/13 there were well over 100 within approx 50 hectares of our reserve. It was a delight to enjoy these noisy birds in such unusual numbers, and they spent much of their time imitating Grey Goshawk call, as they usually seem to do, coinciding with the unusual absence of actual Grey Goshawks. I can only imagine, but there could well have been thousands of Drongos in the surrounding area just ahead of the ex-cyclone.
The Drongos absolutely decimated the Cicada population, along with several dozen Noisy Friarbirds. Two days later it started raining, in a very big way. Over 600mm of rain fell from 26/01/13 to 29/01/13. This is about half of our annual rainfall in 3 days!
These Drongo numbers continued during the deluge, until 2 days ago 02/02/13 when there were just a handful left, today I haven’t recorded one.
It’s much quieter now, with Cicada numbers heavily reduced, following an equally unusually large number of this season. I can hear King Quail again, their thin call has been drowned out by Double Drummers and Greengrocers for a couple of months. Now it’s the turn of the Frogs.
Since the flooding rain, 4 Glossy Black-Cockatoos have been feeding on the site for the past 3 days, a pair of Pacific Baza has hung around and some Double-barred Finches have turned up. Scaly-breasted & Musk Lorikeet have also been moving around for a few days.
I will be posting a seasonal report in due course; it’s been an unusual one, so far.
Waiting for a Frigatebird to turn up on the dam!
Simon Clayton
Manager
Birdrangers, Gibraltar Reserve
Cangai, NSW, 2460
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