COWRA COMMENTS An occasional newsletter of the Cowra Woodland Birds Program ISSUE Fifteen– June 2013 Autumn Survey Weekend (19-21 April 2013) The Cowra Woodland Birds Program is a series of projects aimed at reversing the decline of While for many of us, first impressions of the weekend were woodland birds in the region. The ”pretty quiet for birds”, once I received all the survey sheets it projects are focused on scientific was clear that there had been lots of birds around & many of research and the management of birds in their woodland habitats. them were “unusual” or at least, not often seen. Probably, the They involve the local prize for the best bird of the weekend must go to Steven Cox landholders and managers, the (with Julie-Anne, Jenny & Bob) for spotting 5 Swift Parrots Cowra Shire Council as well as at.McInerneys! local birdwatchers and members Below is Steven’s “photo of one of the swift parrots ...feeding in of BirdLife Southern NSW ( and other birding clubs. a flowering ironbark. It’s not a great photo as they flew off shortly after we spotted them and they were high in the tree”. 2013 CWBP committee John Rankin - Chair Neale Coutanche Vice-chair Nick Nicholls Joy Pegler Sue Proust Madeleine Rankin Julian Reid Rosemary Stapleton Maret Vesk Malcolm Fyfe – survey co-ordinator Contact: John Rankin Phone: (02) 6342 9282 [email protected] or BirdLife Southern NSW Phone: (02) 9647 1033 [email protected] Postal Address: CWBP, BirdLife Discovery Centre, Newington Armory 1 Jamieson St Sydney Olympic Park 2127 Other notable sightings included Superb Parrots in good numbers all around the shire, 4 Turquoise Parrots and Little Lorikeets on 2 sites, 5 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes, Inland Thornbills (see page 8) and 25 Australasian Pipits partying at Inglewood. Interestingly, Koorawatha Nature Reserve which has been disappointing over the last few years, really turned on the birds this time – 30 species at KNR - 1 and 27 on KNR - 2! Newsletter editor: Maret Vesk Allan Richards reports that “during a camp (at Spring Forest) [email protected] for Birding NSW over the Queen’s Birthday weekend, we had numerous sightings of Swift Parrots each day. Generally in small groups of 2 – 4 but maximum seen at any one time was about 12”. Survey dates for 2013 20 & 21 July Neville Schrader has compiled a 2012 Central-West Annual 19 & 20 October Bird Report from “observations that ... have been submitted online and in various birding newsletters, by members of the 2014 public and birding organizations for the year 2012. The Cowra 18/19 January Woodland Bird Survey and Grenfell Important Bird Area Group 12/13 April provided their survey results, thus adding greatly to the 19/20 July completeness of this report. 18/19 October All observations have been summarised, and although all care Contact Malcolm Fyfe on has been taken in the compiling of these records, they should be (02) 6253 0772 or individually verified with the observer. The object of this report [email protected] is to give the reader an overview of the birds which have been recorded within the area during the year 2012 and to also EVENTS attempt to identify the last recorded observation within the region of a particular species. The correctness or not of each Winter survey weekend species identified has not been assessed and should be referred 20 & 21 July to the observer or group. Of the 287 species listed for the region, 230 were sighted in Saturday 20 July 2012. There were no sightings of 52 of the listed species, 30 The Pridham Centre has sighted at only one location, 21 at two location and 17 at three been booked – there will be locations. The large number of species not sighted could be a talk (TBA) at 5pm traced to the general decline in wader numbers world wide and followed by a barbeque is expected to continue with loss of critical feeding and breeding (BYO everything). habitat overseas and locally.” It is interesting to note that 2 new species for the region - Boorowa Bird Day Crescent Honeyeater and Wonga Pigeon - were both recorded in Cowra! While some of you may have seen the report, if you are has now been rescheduled interested, please contact Neville ( [email protected] ) for Sunday 23rd June. The directly. day is free and morning tea and lunch will be provided. I have been in contact with Neville about some of the CWBP For further details contact records & his comment on Variegated Fairy-wrens is [email protected] interesting. w.gov.au “As for the Variegated Fairy-wren, the inland race assimilis (Purple-backed) West Wyalong - Jemalong Weir – Tottenham Elisabeth Karplus writes appears to be the eastern edge of its distribution, though there about the Birding NSW are three isolated records for the Weddin Mtns and the three you Grenfell IBA monitoring mention for the Lachlan River. For the coastal race lamberti the weekend – page 3 furthest west I’m aware of is Lithgow – Taralga then back towards the coast, missing the higher Snowy Mtn country. John French reveals all There are three records for Canberra, but the species is not (about Speckled Warblers!) mentioned on the last list I have for the ACT. There appears to at his & Fiona’s Kooragindi be this gap where the two races don’t meet, so the observations and also passes on some you have are interesting”. detailed information about Speckled Warblers in We don’t have very many records of Variegated Fairy-wrens general – page 3 over the 11 years of surveys but it is something to keep an eye out for – it can also be quite challenging to separate the From the Editor - A big Variegated from the Superbs when all you can see are “brown thank you to all the contributors to this issue – birds”! especially Frenchy! Good hunting! 2 Important Bird Area survey around Grenfell in April 2013 Elisabeth Karplus Twenty four members of Birding NSW took part in the fourth of our IBA surveys around Grenfell. This is the largest number of surveyors that have taken part in the Grenfell surveys to date. We welcomed several new surveyors including Mary Dodd, who lives in Grenfell. Divided into six groups, we surveyed 24 sites, including eight sites on private land. My thanks go to Penny Drake Brockman, Russell Beardmore, Ted Nixon, Jill Molan and Allan Richards, who led groups. Alas there were few birds around to be counted following a very dry summer. Fifty one species were seen during the surveys – considerably fewer than the 76 species seen in the spring of 2012. Superb Parrots, one of the four key species, were seen on one site (Dodds Lane) during the survey time and at two survey sites (including Dodds Lane) but outside the survey time. A flock of around 50 birds was seen at Dodds Lane and a similar sized flock was seen on one of the private properties. There were no sightings of the other key species (Diamond Firetail, Swift Parrot, Painted Honeyeater). The number of birds seen per site varied between one and 10. As well as the survey sites, we recorded any sightings of birds considered vulnerable in NSW and any other interesting sightings seen over the weekend. Despite the small number of birds seen, we added nine species including Varied Sittellas to the overall list of survey site birds, to reach a total of 103 species. Hooded Robins and Speckled Warblers were seen in Weddin State Forest outside the survey sites or outside the survey time. An additional surprise sighting was of a pair of Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens seen by Jill Molan on the Ben Halls Cave walk in Weddin National Park. As well as doing the surveys, we attended the second Weddin Bird Forum organised by Mikla Lewis of the Lachlan Catchment Management Authority (CMA). The Forum was sponsored by the Lachlan CMA and by Weddin Landcare. The Forum was attended by about 70 people including local people and a group from the Cowra Woodland Project, who were surveying around Cowra on the same weekend. We were glad to see many Grenfell people attend the Forum despite competition from the Grenfell Races! We heard talks on BirdLife Australia’s Birds in Backyards Project (Holly Parsons), the Weddin Community Wild Plant Nursery project (Mikla Lewis), the Important Bird Areas project (Elisabeth Karplus) and a fascinating talk by James Maslin with lots of bird pictures about sustainable farming on his property on the Bland Floodplain about 50 kilometres west of Grenfell. As a result of fencing paddocks, moving stock to new paddocks every 3-4 days and considerable fox baiting, they have grass and income every year and a much higher rate of lamb survival. They have a pair of Bush Stone-curlews breeding on the property and have surrounded the nesting area with an electric fence. Our thanks go to Mikla Lewis, who organised the Forum and kept us all to time. On Sunday morning, surveyors and local people visited Warraderry State Forest. There were few birds to be seen but we had a tasty morning tea in the sun! The next IBA survey will take place on October 12, 2013. We hope that our existing volunteers and new volunteers will take part in the next survey. In particular we hope that more people from Grenfell will join us on the surveys. Please contact Allan Richards ( [email protected] ) or me ( [email protected] ) if you are not already on our contact list and would like details of the next survey.