Hi Mick Roderick and all,
Yesterday I went to Werakata. My first site was about 10 km SW of Cessnock, at Pelton. I turned east from Ellalong Rd into Pelton Rd (a poorly maintained dirt track), and stopped at an intersection about 500 m in, at a site where there has been extensive illegal dumping of rubbish. In particular, there are 4 dumped mattresses and a bed – I call this site The Bedroom. Here I found a pair of Swift Parrots and a single Little Lorikeet.
My second site was between Kitchener and Abernethy, along the Kearsley South Fire Trail, to the north of Abernethy Rd. About 200 m in, a bike trail leads down into a gully, where 2 or 3 cars were dumped many years ago. Here I did not see any swift parrots or lorikeets. Black-chinned honeyeaters stopped briefly at the head of the bike trail.
Mick, when you reported some swift parrots on Birdline on Friday, at the car park at Pelton, were you referring to either of these sites?
Best wishes,
Carl Weber
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Hi Mick, Allan, Peter, and Keith,
Thanks for the wealth of information on blossoming and seeding in eucalypts. It is all new to me and most interesting.
Peter, you have picked out musk lorikeets at Warriewood Wetland that have eluded me, despite my 3 or 4 visits. As an aside, the lone female musk duck has made a reappearance after 2 months.
Keith, I would be interested to know when you saw swift parrots at Warriewood. The only Warriewood record that I have is 2002 (from Bruce Cox, who kept meticulous records from 1987 until 2009). There are only 2 records of sightings on Eremaea since 2006 for the whole Northern Beaches, and one of these was followed up and proved to be a misidentification. There have been one or two sightings in Ku-ring-gai Chase NP, which some people regard as being part of the Northern Beaches.
Carl Weber
Sent: Wednesday, 22 May 2013 6:08 PM Cc: Carl Weber; birding-aus@vicnet.net.au
Eucalypts are generally unpredictable, but it isn’t unusual to have seasons with little or no blossom in an area. For instance, last year was a big “Spotted Gum year” that attracted the birds I listed below to the Cessnock-Kurri forests. At the same time there was virtually nothing flowering in the Swamp Mahogany dominated forests on the coast (that Al Richardson talks about below).
Spotted Gums flower on a 2 to 3 year cycle and can actually hold bud for a long time (maybe up to 2 years?). Apiarists would be good to ask these sorts of questions. In the Hunter, the last 6 big “Spotted Gum years” appear to have been 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2012. Not too sure what happened between 2000 and 2005. In each of these years we had significant numbers of Regent Honeyeaters and Swift Parrots in the Cessnock-Kurri forests. In other years (eg 2002) the Swamp Mahogany forests flowered and attracted good numbers of these birds.
Note that I’m only talking about what has happened in the Hunter here – despite last year being a big Spotted Gum year on the NSW South Coast it appears that there is a reasonable amount of blossom down there this year as well.
Note also that these birds (especially Swifties) love feeding on lerp as well.
Mick
Cc: Carl Weber; ‘Mick Roderick’ ; birding-aus@vicnet.net.au Sent: Wednesday, 22 May 2013 4:04 PM
Hi Carl,
Around Morisset I’ve found individual cohorts of Swamp Mahogany to fire in different years.
In 2011, the last time we had Regent Honeyeaters here, the blossom was out in very good densities, but the following season (last year) was dominated by trees setting seed.
Trees the birds were using in 2011 are out again this year, but there are some patches in the wider locality that aren’t firing at all this season and aren’t carrying any bud.
Locally it looks like a 2 year cycle prevails. However, I think the extent to which the trees flower depends on how dry the habitat is in a given year.
Allan Richardson Morisset NSW
where the CBOC had an outing… They do move about, tho’. winters, blossom. be Rubbish-dumping there blossom the looks Regent Friarbirds (with which at Spotted must Cessnock, a The Lorikeet. South leads did car
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Eucalypts are generally unpredictable, but it isn’t unusual to have seasons with little or no blossom in an area. For instance, last year was a big “Spotted Gum year” that attracted the birds I listed below to the Cessnock-Kurri forests. At the same time there was virtually nothing flowering in the Swamp Mahogany dominated forests on the coast (that Al Richardson talks about below). Spotted Gums flower on a 2 to 3 year cycle and can actually hold bud for a long time (maybe up to 2 years?). Apiarists would be good to ask these sorts of questions. In the Hunter, the last 6 big “Spotted Gum years” appear to have been 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2012. Not too sure what happened between 2000 and 2005. In each of these years we had significant numbers of Regent Honeyeaters and Swift Parrots in the Cessnock-Kurri forests. In other years (eg 2002) the Swamp Mahogany forests flowered and attracted good numbers of these birds. Note that I’m only talking about what has happened in the Hunter here – despite last year being a big Spotted Gum year on the NSW South Coast it appears that there is a reasonable amount of blossom down there this year as well. Note also that these birds (especially Swifties) love feeding on lerp as well. Mick
________________________________ Cc: Carl Weber; ‘Mick Roderick’ ; birding-aus@vicnet.net.au Sent: Wednesday, 22 May 2013 4:04 PM
Hi Carl,
Around Morisset I’ve found individual cohorts of Swamp Mahogany to fire in different years.
In 2011, the last time we had Regent Honeyeaters here, the blossom was out in very good densities, but the following season (last year) was dominated by trees setting seed.
Trees the birds were using in 2011 are out again this year, but there are some patches in the wider locality that aren’t firing at all this season and aren’t carrying any bud.
Locally it looks like a 2 year cycle prevails. However, I think the extent to which the trees flower depends on how dry the habitat is in a given year.
Allan Richardson Morisset NSW
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Hi Carl,
Around Morisset I’ve found individual cohorts of Swamp Mahogany to fire in different years.
In 2011, the last time we had Regent Honeyeaters here, the blossom was out in very good densities, but the following season (last year) was dominated by trees setting seed.
Trees the birds were using in 2011 are out again this year, but there are some patches in the wider locality that aren’t firing at all this season and aren’t carrying any bud.
Locally it looks like a 2 year cycle prevails. However, I think the extent to which the trees flower depends on how dry the habitat is in a given year.
Allan Richardson Morisset NSW
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Hi Carl,
There have been days with ‘Muskies’, Carl, such as Wed 8th. September, where the CBOC had an outing… They do move about, tho’. Cheers Peter Madvig
Hi Mick,
The lack of blossom this winter is interesting. Is the development of extensive blossom a regular event, with only occasional no blossom winters, or is no blossom the norm?
At Warriewood Wetland, near where I live, the swamp mahogany (E robusta) blossoms every winter, without fail – but some years are much better than others. In years of good blossom, we get 4 species of lorikeet – rainbow, little, musk, and scaly-breasted. So far this year, we have had only rainbow. It’s been cold, and I wonder if this has restricted the blossom.
Best wishes,
Carl
Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 4:07 PM
Hi Carl,
The Bedroom is The Car Park! Note that from time to time it could also be called “The Kitchen”, “The Rumpus Room” or even “The Gym”! Rubbish-dumping is rife in that area, but the birds don’t seem to mind one bit.
So you were presumably seeing the same Swifties that we’ve been seeing there over the past few days. I had a dozen on Friday though. There is no blossom here (or in the Hunter Economic Zone, which is east towards Kurri where Steve and others have had Swifties this past fortnight) but Swift Parrots still return here nearly every year. I wonder if they will stay on for the whole winter this year, given that there is virtually no blossom in the area. Having said that, there are some Stringybarks (undescribed sp., looks like E. capitellata to me but not to the taxonomists) coming out at the Kitchener site you visited which is of interest because we have had Regent Honeyeaters on them in two of the past four winters up here.
It is interesting that there are virtually no lorikeets or Noisy Friarbirds in the area. This is in stark contrast to last year when we had about 300-400 Swifties in the broader area and at least 100 Regents as well (with up to 50 at one site). This was of course for the Spotted Gum bonanza, which also attracted hordes of Grey-headed Flying-foxes as well. When you look at what happened on the South Coast of NSW last year (>1000 Swifties in Spotted Gum), it really does drive home just how productive Spotted Gum blossom must be.
Cheers
Mick
Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 12:56 PM
Hi Mick Roderick and all,
Yesterday I went to Werakata. My first site was about 10 km SW of Cessnock, at Pelton. I turned east from Ellalong Rd into Pelton Rd (a poorly maintained dirt track), and stopped at an intersection about 500 m in, at a site where there has been extensive illegal dumping of rubbish. In particular, there are 4 dumped mattresses and a bed – I call this site The Bedroom. Here I found a pair of Swift Parrots and a single Little Lorikeet.
My second site was between Kitchener and Abernethy, along the Kearsley South Fire Trail, to the north of Abernethy Rd. About 200 m in, a bike trail leads down into a gully, where 2 or 3 cars were dumped many years ago. Here I did not see any swift parrots or lorikeets. Black-chinned honeyeaters stopped briefly at the head of the bike trail.
Mick, when you reported some swift parrots on Birdline on Friday, at the car park at Pelton, were you referring to either of these sites?
Best wishes,
Carl Weber
===============================
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 ===============================
Hi Carl, The Bedroom is The Car Park! Note that from time to time it could also be called “The Kitchen”, “The Rumpus Room” or even “The Gym”! Rubbish-dumping is rife in that area, but the birds don’t seem to mind one bit. So you were presumably seeing the same Swifties that we’ve been seeing there over the past few days. I had a dozen on Friday though. There is no blossom here (or in the Hunter Economic Zone, which is east towards Kurri where Steve and others have had Swifties this past fortnight) but Swift Parrots still return here nearly every year. I wonder if they will stay on for the whole winter this year, given that there is virtually no blossom in the area. Having said that, there are some Stringybarks (undescribed sp., looks like E. capitellata to me but not to the taxonomists) coming out at the Kitchener site you visited which is of interest because we have had Regent Honeyeaters on them in two of the past four winters up here. It is interesting that there are virtually no lorikeets or Noisy Friarbirds in the area. This is in stark contrast to last year when we had about 300-400 Swifties in the broader area and at least 100 Regents as well (with up to 50 at one site). This was of course for the Spotted Gum bonanza, which also attracted hordes of Grey-headed Flying-foxes as well. When you look at what happened on the South Coast of NSW last year (>1000 Swifties in Spotted Gum), it really does drive home just how productive Spotted Gum blossom must be. Cheers Mick
________________________________ Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 12:56 PM
Hi Mick Roderick and all,
Yesterday I went to Werakata. My first site was about 10 km SW of Cessnock, at Pelton. I turned east from Ellalong Rd into Pelton Rd (a poorly maintained dirt track), and stopped at an intersection about 500 m in, at a site where there has been extensive illegal dumping of rubbish. In particular, there are 4 dumped mattresses and a bed – I call this site The Bedroom. Here I found a pair of Swift Parrots and a single Little Lorikeet.
My second site was between Kitchener and Abernethy, along the Kearsley South Fire Trail, to the north of Abernethy Rd. About 200 m in, a bike trail leads down into a gully, where 2 or 3 cars were dumped many years ago. Here I did not see any swift parrots or lorikeets. Black-chinned honeyeaters stopped briefly at the head of the bike trail.
Mick, when you reported some swift parrots on Birdline on Friday, at the car park at Pelton, were you referring to either of these sites?
Best wishes,
Carl Weber
===============================
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 ===============================