Friday, August 19, 2016

Migration expectations 2016

As with other recent years I have looked at our records to see when the species defined by COG as migrants to this area have been recorded in the past.  I have slightly adjusted the list to exclude:

  • 2 raptor species (Australian Hobby and Collared Sparrowhawk) since they seem to be recorded here more or less evenly through the second half of the year;
  • Both local pardalotes as they are recorded nearly every month of the year; 
  • Australian Shelduck, since they migrate away in Summer to breed in the higher country. and
  • Black-eared Cuckoo and Pink Robin, since both are very unusual in the COG area and have both only been reported once in the Carwoola area.  Rufous Fantail, Satin Flycatcher and Rose Robin have only been reported a few times and no pattern is visible so they have gone too!  Of course, I am keen to hear of any observations of any of these species!
The table is below.  Note that:
  • it is in "Extra-large" format so some of it may be off the screen: click the image to see the whole lot; and 
  • it is an image not a table so can't be copied to spreadsheets.  (If you'd like a spreadsheet copy drop me an email).

The numbers in the table are the number of years in which the species has been reported since I started the project.  The maximum possible is 9 (except for July when 10 is theoretically possible, but for these species extremely unlikely!

The cells in yellow are the main months in which species have been recorded in the past when they stay on after arrival.  The green cells are the species which are to pass through the area on their way to somewhere else.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Martin, interesting and useful.

    What are the numbers, please? The number of years in which the sp has been recorded in that month, perhaps?

    And are you sure about the bee-eater and woodswallows passing through en route to higher elevations? So far as I know we don't think we have data to support that conclusion. The COG annotated list does not show these as being altitudinal migrants.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for those helpful comments David. I have amended the paper to (1) explain the numbers - your conclusion was correct - and (2) revise the comment about the passage migrants. As you suggest I don't have the data to know where they are going, but they do "pass through".

      Martin

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