Birds South East
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Birds South East Number 84 November 2018 The real highlights for us were seeing Regent Parrots at Lake Hindmarsh, and Malleefowl at three Birdlife Nhill Cross different locations. There was a pair of Malleefowl tending a mound in the reveg patch at the Lodge Border Campout which was a rare opportunity for us to see the birds th working their mound. Unfortunately, it took several September 28 – trips to the mound, just missing the birds each st time, until the last morning of our stay when one of October 1 the birds had just finished opening up the mound and was still present when we arrived. There was a great turn up (over 60) at The Little Desert Nature Lodge for the bi-annual cross border Contents campout. The Nhill Birdlife group did a great job 1. Birdlife Nhill Cross Border Campout organising the weekend for such a large group of people. Stewie and I travelled over on the Thursday 2. Birdata Workshop to give us a bit of time to wander around the Lodge 3. 2018 Twitchathon, Coorong Campout grounds before it got too busy. We managed to find 5. Shorebird Notes the Southern Scrub Robin that we have seen on our 6. Birdlife South East Quiz previous visits, and he was much more co-operative 8. Program, Contacts this time around, allowing us to take a decent photo. We did not have as much luck with the Shy 9. Recent Sightings Of course, we always hope to see a new bird when Heathwren as the bushes that he used to hide in were gone, and we didn’t sight another all weekend. Of course, we always hope to see a new bird when we go away, and this trip was no exception with a Malleefowl. Photo: Stewie Pounsett number of Black Honeyeaters in two of the locations we visited. Although we got a decent look at a couple of them, we failed miserably at getting a Birds South East photo. Other notable birds for us were the Splendid Birdata workshop Fairy-wrens, Black-eared Cuckoo, Striped Honeyeater, White-fronted Honeyeater and White- 6 October 2018 winged Trillers. What is Birdata? Birdata is the way we The Luv-A-Duck sponsored dinner on Saturday was collaboratively and scientifically collect data to gain a real treat and we learned a lot about the Luv-A- insight and protect Australia's birds. It’s also really Duck business. easy to be involved now with the use of the App on smartphones. The Guest Speaker on Sunday night was Simon Verdon who is a PhD student at La Trobe University Our group decided to run a workshop showing studying the effect of fire on the Mallee Emu-wren. people how to use it so that we get more valuable For the last three years he has been working to information collected on the national database for improve fire management for the Mallee Emu-wren our region. in Victoria, and more recently he has been involved We had sixteen people register for the workshop, in the efforts to re-introduce Mallee Emu-wrens to they had installed the App on their phones prior to Ngarkat Conservation Park in South Australia. As the workshop as a timesaver, Bob Green ran part of the Threatened Mallee Birds team convened through a presentation on why we need to record by Birdlife, he is also working to recover the mallee data, the evolution of the App from the old paper race of the Striated Grasswren and the white-bellied forms many of us had filled in previously, and also race of the Western Whipbird. on the use of the web portal for when modification Simon’s talk was very educational and interesting. to a survey or more information is requested. He is passionate about what he is doing and that Cassie Hlava also gave a spiel on why monitoring is certainly came through in his talk. All in all, it was so import and what we would like to achieve, she a great weekend of birding, renewing friendships discussed the idea of setting up a number of and making new friends. We really enjoyed it. “shared sites” where members can all contribute to Stewie and Rosey Pounsett collective knowledge and regular surveys at selected locations, one such site has been set up at the Valley Lakes Conservation Area, and more will be added at a later date, a list will be available and people notified when sites haven’t been done for a while. There will be a range of survey types available for people to choose from. After the session held at the Helen Street office, we went up to the Valley Lakes for a field exercise in using the app, each person entered a “bird list” which is a category that doesn’t get analysed, as all of us were effectively doing the same survey this method avoids duplication. A lot of people were surprised by the ease of use of the App, so hopefully this will translate into more data being added. If you couldn’t attend but are interested in getting involved and using the App, Southern Scrub Robin. Photo: Stewie Pounsett download it and give it a go, if you are struggling with it please contact either Bob Green or Wayne Bigg for assistance, we can talk you through it. Thanks to Bryan Haywood, Cassie Hlava and Wayne Bigg for assistance in setting up this workshop and running Bob Green 2 Newsletter Headine Birds South East 2018 Twitchathon Coorong campout 10-12 August 2018 This year we had 5 teams participate in the 12 hour Birds S.E. Twitchathon. We had a turnout of 12 for our groups second We have a perpetual trophy. Attached photo with campout staying at the historic Cantara Homestead, this year’s winners. which is 23km South of Salt Creek, it is owned by This year’s winners were Bob Greens team “ the government and we were kindly allowed to use Crested Turbo-chooks” with a score of 142. The it as our base for the weekend. highlights for them Pallid Cuckoo and a life tick for Cassie Latham’s Snipe. Some of the group arrived Fri afternoon and some Second with a score of 108 were Bryan Haywood’s later into the evening, whereas others had planned team “Moorak Mopokes” with a score of 108. The to arrive Saturday morning. highlights for them was a Brolga with chicks. Third with a score of 107 were Vicki Natt’s A welcoming committee of Banded Stilt were team “Grey headed Babblers” . Highlights 2 roosting on the lake as we made the approach to White-bellied Sea-Eagles! the house, amongst them a few Red-necked Avocet Fourth was Sheila Boyle’s team “Feather Busters” blended in pretty well, there is always a nice variety with a score of 99. Highlight was Bush Stone- of species present along the causeway and adjacent curlew. lakes. Friday night was an entertaining night of Fifth place Angela Jones team “Wattlebirds” with discussion with some cheeses, nibbles and wine to a score of 96. Highlights 2 Australasian Bittern. help set the mood. Sue Black went solo so really could not be counted – she was out and about with Roger and managed Saturday morning, we took one car and visited a to clock up 31 birds for the day – they were on an couple of sites prior to arrival of the rest of the outing with other car enthusiasts and most of the crew, we made our first stop at the Cantara Road time doing 110 kph! ponds where the year before a vagrant Northern After collating all of the forms a total of 165 birds Shoveler had been found, highlights here were were sighted. Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo and Australian Spotted Crake. Next stop due to the Salt Creek estuary track Noel & Sheila Boyle still being closed was Ngrugie Ngoppun, we followed the track through to the lagoon shoreline, birds were pretty quiet here with male Scarlet Robin being the pick of the bunch. A stop at the Salt Creek bridge proved to be very fruitful with Nankeen Night Herons taking flight from a roost on the bank, Australasian Shovelers, Tree Martins whizzing around close by and watching an Australian Spotted Crake swimming across the channel. While here John Gitsham (Birds SA President) arrived, he was joining us for the Weekend. John is no stranger to the Coorong formerly being a Ranger based in the area. After having lunch back at the homestead, we ventured to Morella Basin where we spent the afternoon, if you haven’t been there it is well worth 2018 Twitchathon winners a visit but be warned, it’s a big park if you don’t have a key. Highlights here were Beautiful Firetails, Weebill, Yellow Thornbill, and White-browed Babblers. Month 2012 3 Birds South East Saturday night we once again enjoyed a pre-dinner Coorong Campout participants feast of meats, cheeses and wine to start the night Firetail were the best here, we then moved to a off, plenty of bird talk was had and a short game of very wet saltmarsh on the edge of Brine Shrimp bird call bingo was quite entertaining thanks to John Lake where most of the group decided to stay near Gitsham. the road, a few very keen people navigated the Sunday morning, we visited a couple of saltmarsh slush to find 47 Blue-winged Parrots, other nice sites on the Old Coorong Road, just south of the birds here were Rufous Bristlebird, White-browed homestead, the first one known to us as “The Pub” Babbler and Wedge-tailed Eagle.