September 2014

As we are now fully into the breeding season I thought I'd start with a couple of nest photographs.

The first is the Terror of the Lawn (aka Pied Curawong) in a Yellow Box (Eucalyptus meliodora) in our garden.

 Further up our block White-winged Choughs have refurbished their nest in a Brittle Gum (E. mannifera)

The least common bird reported this month was a pair of Pink-eared Duck on a small dam near Foxlow Bridge,  A White-bellied Sea-Eagle seen overflying Widgiewa Rd.and a flock of 30 Little Corellas at Whiskers Creek Rd were also very unusual!  Other birds which have been uncommon in the past but have recently become regular, were Red-capped Robin and Crescent Honeyeater.  The most surprising (to the observer) bird was a Superb Lyrebird which visited a garden on Wanna Wanna Rd.

Flocks of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos are regular visitors to pine shelter belts around the area, but a flock of 76 reported from Wanna Wanna Rd was exceptionally large.

Overall, we recorded 90 species in the month, This is an increase of 10 species on August 2014 and 3 more than reported in September 2013.

Migrants continue to return.

So far this season we have had 9 species return on schedule, 3 arrive a month early and 3 that are still 'no-shows'.  IMHO that means that things are pretty much on track.

With respect to breeding activity 16 species have been reported undertaking activities across the range of events from display to dependent young.  They are marked in red in the detailed list below.

For September I thank observers in Widgiewa Rd, Knox Close, the Plain, Pony Place, Captains Flat Rd and Wanna Wanna Rd.for their efforts in reporting.   I'm always happy to hear of other sightings of interest to you, in the current season especially of breeding actvities or first sightings of migrants, by email to martinflab@gmail.com.  

1  Waterbirds:  Musk Duck; Black Swan;  Australian Shelduck; Australian Wood Duck;Pink-eared Duck; Australian Shoveler; Grey Teal; Pacific Black Duck; Hardhead;Australasian Grebe; Little Pied Cormorant;  White‑necked Heron;  White‑faced Heron; EurasianCoot;; Masked Lapwing; 

2 Birds of Prey:  White-bellied Sea-eagle; Brown Goshawk; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Little Eagle; Nankeen Kestrel; Brown Falcon;.

3 Parrots and Relatives:   Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; Galah;  Little   Corella; Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Red-rumped parrot

4 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Tawny Frogmouth;  Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Pallid Cuckoo; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Laughing Kookaburra; Superb lyrebird

5 Honeyeaters: Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; New Holland Honeyeater; Crescent Honeyeater; Brown‑headed Honeyeater; Noisy Friarbird; 

6 Flycatchers and similar species: Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Fantail; WillieWagtail;Magpie-lark; Jacky Winter; Scarlet Robin; Red‑capped Robin, Flame Robin; Eastern Yellow Robin; Welcome Swallow;Fairy Martin; Tree Martin

7 Thornbills, Finches and similar species:  Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren;  Weebill; White-throated Gerygone; Striated Thornbill; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill; Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Silvereye; Double‑barred Finch; Red‑browed Finch;  House Sparrow; European Goldfinch

8 Other, smaller birds:  White-throated Treecreeper; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Olive‑backed Oriole;  Dusky Woodswallow; Skylark; Brown Songlark; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Australasian  Pipit;

9  Other, larger birds: Satin Bowerbird; Grey Butcherbird; Australian Magpie; Pied Currawong;Grey Currawong; Australian Raven; Little Raven; White-winged Chough