3.79 1

The Letter-winged Kite Irruption of 1976-77. By DAVID L. G. HOLLANDS, Nicholson St., Orbost, , 3888.

In late 1976 and the first half of 1977 there was a movement of Letter­ winged Kites Elanus scriptus out of the inland of Australia in numbers that far exceeded anything ever previously recorded. This paper is an attempt to summarise what is known of this irruption. Background and Historical The Letter-winged Kite has, in historical times, always been one of Australia's rarest birds-of-prey. An inhabitant of the inland deserts and semi-deserts, it lives in an environment of heat and drought that is as severe as anything to be found in Australia. There is very little information about how it survives in these (for it) "normal" times, for details of its movements, breeding and life span are virtually unknown. Most of our knowledge has been gained from observations made during the occa­ sional wet. One fact that does seem certain is that its fortunes are tied to those of its principal prey, the Long-haired Rat Rattus villosissimus, whose numbers can build up only after soaking rains and the prolific plant growth that follows. Then the rat population may explode, resulting within months in a plague of rats that is counted in many millions. T hese are the conditions which the Letter-winged Kite needs to increase and, typical of a desert species, it responds rapidly to them, breeding vigorously and continuously, to multiply itself many times over. Just as the rains bring instant life to the desert, so the return of the drought brings death almost as rapidly and on a vast scale. Plant survival is assured by the seeds, which may lie dormant in the sand for years, but, for countless numbers of rats, there is only death. From being able to support a large population of Letter-winged Kites, most of the country rapidly changes to a state where it can support none at all. The Letter­ winged Kites must die too or move. Since records began, there have been several years when Letter-winged Kites have moved out of the inland, usually to Victoria or South Australia, and in very small numbers. 1952 and 1970 were the two most notable years but the total of birds seen on each occasion was very small. So far as I can ascertain, these irruptions always followed good seasons in inland Australia. In 1973 and 1974 rain fell in unprecedented quantities in many parts of the inland. Widespread nesting of the Letter-winged Kite followed, and, in the Eyre basin, it is known that breeding colonies existed from eighty kilometres north of Bedourie in the north to the crossing of Cooper's Creek and the Birdsville Track in the south, and from deep in the Simpson Desert in the west to Windorah in the east. Much of this country is seldom visited. The total nesting area may well have been in excess of this, but even the known boundaries mean that the kites were present through a huge expanse of country, encompassing somewhere between a hundred, and a hundred and fifty thousand square kilometres. It was to be expected that birds would eventually appear outside this area but so good were the seasons that the Letter-winged Kites were able to continue breeding throughout 1975 and even into the first half of 1976. By then, however colonies were being deserted rapidly. 2 HOLLANDS 3.79

Arrival By late 1976 the inland population of Letter-winged Kites was at its peak. Well before this time a few birds had begun to move away and there were at least seven such records in 1975; four from Victoria, and one each from New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. However, although inland breeding colonies were being abandoned in the first half of I 976, it was not until December of that year that anything more than an occasional bird began to be seen outside the Lake Eyre Basin. From then on, reported numbers increased rapidly to a peak in the late autumn of 1977, falling off very rapidly in the early winter so that very few birds remained after July. However, irregular sightings continued until March of the following year, so that, at the time of writing (April 1978), it is still not possible to say with certainty that the invasion has ended. For reasons that are as yet unexplained, the great majority of birds came to Victoria, with much smaller numbers in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, and a very few in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Among the early records were a considerable propor­ tion which were well away from the coast but, after January, one of the remarkable features was that so many of the birds were found within a few kilometres of the sea. Then they usually occupied the same area for weeks or months. Frequently these were in parties of some size and there was a strong tendency for them to form communal roosts. In every instance that I have been able to check, parties of birds had already taken up residence at the time that they were found in an area. This differed from those in ones and twos, which were rarely seen again at the place of first sighting. I have suggested in an earlier paper (Hollands, 1977) that, when a Letter-winged Kite colony is abandoned, all the birds move out together and remain as a single unit. The appearance of groups in Southern Australia reinforces this belief, but it seems strange that parties of such size should be able to arrive at their final destination completely unnoticed. Certainly much of the country which they would have crossed is lacking in human observers, but the paucity of sightings during the movement south is more easil y explained if it is assumed that they travelled rapidly and, as would seem very likely for this species, at night. Habitat The type of country where parties of kites chose to settle had many similarities. Characteristically it was open, flat and windswept, very close to the sea with isolated groups of small trees, some of which were dead, and often with sand dunes nearby. T here were certainly exceptions to this but the number of times that most of these conditions applied was quite striking, evoking the thought that perhaps this was the nearest thing to the sand ridges, lunettes and Coolibahs Eucalyptus microtheca of the inland that southern Australia could provide. To the best of my knowledge, any large party that was well away from the sea was in mallee or other small timber and it may be that the sea has an entirely different significance from all the other features being, as with many other species of raptor, a barrier which they are unwilling to cross. If this is so, it would seem reasonable to suppose that Letter-winged Kites, which were activated to move out of the Opposite: Letter-winged Kites at communal diurnal roost, M.M.B.W. Farm, Werribee, Victoria. P late 2 Photo by D . G. W. Hollands

4 HOLLANDS 3.79 inland, would keep moving until they were brought up by this barrier. Conversely ... unlike the closely related Black-shouldered Kite E. notatus, the Letter-winged Kite seems not to be a nomadic opportunist in its feeding habits and, in the absence of large concentrations of rodents, it is hard to imagine what would have stopped its flight short of the coast. In each of the areas where parties stayed, one or more trees became regular daytime roosts. Usually these were small trees, isolated or in a small group, exposed and partly dead. Many observations were made at these roosts and will be dealt with later under Behaviour. Break-up Probably at no time during the study period were the kites completely fit and healthy and I shall discuss this further. Certainly, by the beginning of June, it was clear that, almost without exception, they were very sick. Particularly at Werribee, Victoria, which had by far the biggest flock and where most study was done, the birds were seen to become progressively more weak and apathetic and several dead ones were found. At this time single birds began to be reported more frequently, often within a short distance of a large party, and I believe that at this stage, with death imminent, there was a tendency for the big groups to break up. Probably most of the kites died at this time. The chance of finding any one bird dead in the wild is very small and the fact that at least eight corpses were picked up is indicative of a very high mortality. With the break-up of the roosts at the start of winter there seemed little doubt that the Letter-winged Kites were all dead and that the invasion was over. However, in the spring of 1977 came a few reports of single birds in the north-west of Victoria. There had been no known breeding in the Lake Eyre Basin through the year and these birds were almost certainly ones which had managed to survive the Victorian winter. At first it seemed that it was only in this dry and relatively warm region that any birds had come through the winter but this was shown to be wrong when others were seen in several places in southern Victoria, the latest of such sightings being in March 1978 at Werribee where the biggest roost had been. These birds are now in such small numbers that it will be almost impossible to learn their eventual fate but it is interesting to note that, from November 1977 onwards, all the birds seen have been noted to look healthy, clean and vigorous; a marked contrast to the conditions of the previous June. Tables and Maps Table I summarises by States all the records known to me from D ecem­ ber 1976 to March 1978. This shows:- 1: Locality. 2: Whether birds were at a roost or adjudged to be on passage. 3: Date seen for passage birds or dates when roost known to be occupied. 4: Number of passage birds or maximum size of roost. 5: Name of observer. Maps I to V show the distribution and number of birds seen for all the records from Table I. Map I covers the whole of Australia, except for Victoria, for the whole of the study period. The records for Victoria are too numerous to show on a map of this scale and Map II shows, on a larger scale, the records for Victoria alone. The remaining three maps split the Victorian records into the three periods, December 1976 to February Opposite: Letter-winged Kites at communal diurnal roost, M.M.B.W. Farm, Werribee, Victoria. Plate 3 Photo by D . G. W . H ollands ) , 6 HOLLANDS 3.79

1977, March 1977 to May 1977 and June 1977 onwards, which I have chosen as roughly representing the three phases of build-up, stabilization and decline. Table II shows the numbers counted at Werribee throughout the existence of the roost. As previously mentioned, this was by far the biggest roost and the only one for which there is sufficient data to use this approach. Behaviour The invasion gave an unrivalled chance to study the Letter-winged Kite away from its breeding grounds. Many of the roosts were discovered through a combination of the birds' conspicuous perching and approachability. This seems a logical point to start. Almost invariably the kites chose a small, exposed tree, often with a quantity of dead branches, and then used the most exposed and conspicuous parts of it to perch. The cohesion within flocks was strong and wherever possible the whole of one flock would perch all over the same tree, as do flocks of c01·ellas, leaving similar adjoining trees empty. They arrived at the roosts b =fore sunrise, coming in more or less together and often collecLng in a nearby tree before making the final move. Whether they hunted communally through the night or only joined together to return to the roost is still unknown. Once at the roost they settled quickly to rest, using low branches just as readily as high cnes, but almost invariably in exposed positions. Undis­ turbed and in good weather they tended to stay there all day until the time came to move out and hunt in the evening. If the weather was windy or wet they gradually shifted to the lee side of the tree and moved into the shelter of the foliage. Other birds-of-prey disturbed them very easily and the near passing of an Australian Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus or Black Falcon Falco subniger would cause the whole flock to explode out of the tree in all directions. Possibly both of these species could have been predators on them but I have seen the same reaction to a Nankeen Kestrel Falco cenchroides, which could not possibly have been a threat. Their reaction to man was very different. Many observers remarked on their approachability, which was often to within a few metres, and there were instances when birds could not be persuaded to fly at all. This behaviour was apparent from the very first arrivals in Victoria and is markedly different from the behaviour at the breeding colonies where they were nervous and volatile and, usually, by no means easy to approach. It seems possible that, even when they first arrived in the south, they were already showing the first signs of the deterioration which was, eventually, to take the lives of most of them. When first disturbed by man the tendency was for them to come back again to the same tree but, sometimes, a few made their way to another tree nearby. Repeated disturbance nearly always caused them to move, when they would fly to one of several other favoured roosting trees. Apart from disturbance, daytime activity was confined to a little preening ~ nd the occasional change of position. Generally they were silent but new arrivals often gave a short, harsh, jarring call. This was similar to the call heard most frequently on the breeding grounds at night and seems to serve as a contact and greeting call. Well before sunset the birds usually left the roost trees, but hunting did not start straight away and it is hard to know why they needed to move so 3.79 Letter-winged Kite 7

early. Once I encountered twenty birds beside a road at Werribee, perched on twenty consecutive fence posts. They stayed there for over an hour, until it was almost too dark to see. Then a few of them started to fly out over the paddocks and hover with a deep, slow wing action which was quite unLke the much faster beating of the Black-shouldered Kite. Strangely, the ones that I saw were hovering at heights of from thirty to fifty metres, which seems a considerable altitude from which to detect prey in the semi-darkness. I never saw them hunting any earlier in the evening than this but, in May and June, there were numerous sightings of birds hovering in full daylight. By then, however, they were starving and I feel that it was this that drove them to hunt before the night in the same way that Barn Owls Tyto alba will in Europe in winter frost and snow. Plumage Probably never before has the Letter-winged Kite's plumage been studied in such detail. At Werribee in particular, the added presence of Black­ shouldered Kites enabled direct comparisons to be made. Both Klapste ( 1979) and Carter ( 1979) have a rt~cles published in conjunction, with deta]ed descriptions and comparisons and I have only a little more to add. Seen together, the Letter-winged Kite appeared more delicately built than the Black-shouldered Kite; slightly smaller in the head and narrower across the shoulders, the latter feature, in particular, making it look a less powerful bird. Its stance tended to be more upright than the Black-should~red Kite's and this could be a useful pointer to a bird's identity, even at a distance. In a previous paper (Hollands, 1977) I wrote that the Letter-winged Kite had a horn-coloured cere and pale fleshy legs, the latter sometimes with a trace of yellow. I have given much thought to this, for such authoritative writers as Gould ( 1840-1848), North (1901-1904) and Campbell (1900) all recorded both cere and legs as "yellow" and it seems inconceivable that they could have been wrong on such basic points. I looked at many birds during the invasion and all had horn-coloured ceres but many had legs that were yellower than those that I had seen inland and I had the impression, difficult to prove, that, at Werribee, there was a tendency for the legs to b ~come yellower while the birds were there. Many of the birds that came south were under a year old and probably virtually all of them were under two years old. Many of them still had traces of brown on the forehead and upper wings, but, even when all juvenile feathering has been lost it may b ~ that the cere and legs have still to change before a bird becomes fully adult and that I have yet to see one that has reached that stage. Possible support for this theory came recently when I found a nesting female Black­ shouldered Kite which appeared adult in every way except that its cere was grey and not yellow. Throughout their time in the south, Letter-winged Kites tended to look greyer and duller than Black-shouldered Kites. I do not believe that this is normal, for much of the greyness of the Letter-winged Kites was caused by their worn and soiled plumage. Their feathers are much more soft and owl-like than those of the Black-shouldered Kite and, although this makes their flight almost soundless, it makes them more subject to wear. Up to the end of June, none of the birds showed any sign of moult. Food The Letter-winged Kite is almost exclusively a nocturnal hunter and I have no knowledge of any being seen with prey during this invasion. 8 HOLLANDS 3.79

Consequently, all identification of food has been performed on pellets. Analysis of many pellets from Werribee showed the identifiable remains to consist entirely of House Mice Mus musculus. It should be mentioned that Black-shouldered Kites were using the same roost but, as the Letter-winged Kites outnumbered them by at least four to one and many pellets were examined, it is safe to assume that a large number of the pellets came from the latter species. At Can·um Downs, Carter (1979) reports that House Mice were also prey, while a number of pellets from Mallacoota consisted of small mammal remains. Unfortunately these were lost and an accurat~ analysis was never performed. No other prey was identified. It is interesting to speculate on the abundance of rodents needed to support a concentrated population of Letter-winged Kites. For most of the time that they were breeding inland, Long-haired Rats were in plague proportions and there seemed to be no difficulty at all in obtaining food. In the early months at Werribee, House Mice were plentiful and, although competing with several other raptors, the kites were probably able to obtain sufficient prey. However, there was a natural decrease in mouse numbers in autumn and, on the irrigated sewage farm, this coincided with the flooding of many paddocks so that hunting became more difficult due to the combination of water, long grass and fewer prey. At Mallacoota, on a narrow strip of swampy heath, rodent numbers were probably never gre2t, and it is surprising that the area was able to support a party of at least eleven kites for as long as it did. The question of the suitability of the food that they ate remains unanswered. However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the Letter-winged Kite thrives only in places where it can obtain an adequate supply of Long-haired Rats (see also Hall, 1969). It may be that it is linked to this species because it is the only one which can supply all of its nutritional needs and that, on other diets, deficiencies gradually appear which, eventuall y, are incompatible with life. At present this is no more than conjecture and much research would be needed to establish if it was true, but I cannot help thinking back to the birds at Werribee. Even in mid summer, with warm weather and an abundance of mice, they seemed to be tired shadows of the birds that I had known inland. Perhaps this could be why. Decline By late May, it was clear that all was far from well with the birds at Werribee. Without exception their plumage was dirty and frayed and many had deep brown stains on their breasts and bellies. This came from contact with the wet ground where they had taken to resting, so weak that they did not stand but sat back on their tails. They were reluctant to fly and had difficulty in making headway against anything more than a light breeze. Once I saw two birds collide and fall to the ground just after take-off, so lacking in co-ordination and strength that they were neither able to avoid each other nor to make the necessary correction to remain airborne after­ wards. Nevertheless, any birds that were to survive still had to hunt and it was about this time that they were first noticed hovering in the late afternoon when it was still light. By early June the number of birds at Werribee had fallen dramatically and, by the middle of the month, most other roosts had been deserted. T hroughout the invasion, occasional dead birds had been reported but now 3.79 Letter-winged Kite 9

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Map I : Letter-winged Kite records (excluding breeding ranges) for Victoria, December 1976 to May 1978. Key indicates numbers of birds recorded. (Note: Use this same key for all maps) •

• •

Map 2: Victoria records: December 1976 to May 1978. 10 HOLLANDS 3.79

findings of these increased and there is little doubt that this was indicative of the fate of most of the birds which disappeared. Probably not all of the decrease at the roosts was due immediately to death for, at this very late hour, I believe that the flocks broke up. There is evidence to support this for, from May onwards, a high proportion of sightings were of single birds in places where they had not been recorded before; usually seen once only so that they were almost certainly on the move. A few birds lingered on at Werribee long after the other roosts had been deserted, the last 1977 record that I know of being of a single bird on August 14. I would have certainly regarded this as the last Werribee record of all but, at the time of writing, have just heard of up to four birds, all seemingly in good health, being present there from March 12, 1978, until at least March 26. Whether this represents a fresh minor influx, or a residual party which had never left the area, is hard to say. By the end of August it appeared likely that the story was at an end for, at this stage, I had little doubt that all the Letter-winged Kites were dead. However, in the spring came evidence that at least a few birds had survived the winter when there were scattered Victorian sightings, all in the western half of the State, ranging in latitude from Mildura in the north to in the south. I do not know of any records for this period from outside Victoria. Apart from a party of up to five near Camperdown all were single birds or pairs, several of which were noted to be in good condition. It is virtually certain that these were birds which had wintered in Victoria as the inland was dry and there had been no reports at all of breeding there. Nothing is known of the subsequent fate of these birds.

Discussion An invasion on this scale by a rare and beautiful bird is enough in itself to cause great interest. This invasion, however, was particularly fascinating because of its many unusual, and often unexplained, features. I want to conclude by raising a number of questions. To many of them I have no answer but, where there seems, to me, a possible explanation, I have added it. 1. Why did the Letter-winged Kites leave the inland? This seems one of the easiest to answer for to stay where they were was to die of starvation anyway. 2. Why did they almost all move south and particularly to Victoria? This is a much harder question and I can find no reasonable answer as it could have been thought that they would have had a better chance of survival in a warmer climate. But even the most westerly and easterly records all had a southerly component in their relationship to the breeding area. Perhaps the inexplicable direction of the moves only serves to show their "lack of value" for survival in anything more than the immediate short term. 3. Why did they remain in flocks? Possibly the bond between birds of a flock, beneficial in their normal habitat, is so strong that it continues to operate even in conditions where it has become frankly harmful. Certainly to remain in a flock in an area where there is limited prey is to reduce the available prey per bird and must be detrimental. 4. Why did the flocks become static after arrival in southern Australia? This is another feature which remains unexplained. It is quite different from the nomadic habits of other rodent-eaters such as Black-shouldered Kites 3.79 Letter-winged Kite 11

Map 3: Victoria records: December 1976 to May 1977.

•

Map 4: Victoria records: June 1977. 12 HOLLANDS 3.79 and Nankeen Kestrels and it is hard to see that any benefit arose from it. Perhaps this is just one more indication of the wholly abnormal nature of the whole movement; one with which the Letter-winged Kites were not equipped to cope. 5. How many birds were there? Any attempt to estimate the total of birds that moved out of the inland is based more on guesswork than science. Many roosts may never have been found at all, for it is no coincidence that the distribution maps largely reflect the centres of human population, and there were hundreds of kilometres of coastline plus many inland areas where large numbers of kites could have existed undetected. Even so, in the period from March to May, which I have taken as one of reasonable stability, the combined maxima at the roosts for which I have counts plus birds in other areas, which were seen only once, comes to nearly three hundred and fifty. I feel that it would be reasonable to multiply that by at least three to obtain a true tote\! so that it seems possible that something in the region of a thousand birds left the inland. 6. Why did they die? I doubt if any single factor could be blamed here. The m1set of cold, wet and windy weather caused the death rate to soar C\nd must be significant, but this came at a time when most birds were already showing signs of poor health. Nowadays pesticide poisoning must always be considered but several dead birds were analysed and their content of pesticide found to be negligible. Disease seems unlikely as it would have had to affect so many birds in widely separated areas almost simultaneously. I believe that starvation, wet and cold, a known lethal combination, were too much for birds which are adapted to an area which is often cold but, virtually, never wet. Their soft, owl-like plumage becomes wet much more readily than the stiffer feathers of the very similar Black­ shouldered Kite and, unlike owls, they roost in the open, adding to their problems by picking isolated dead or dying trees on exposed plains. 7. Was there any return to the inland? Without extensive banding it is impossible to be sure of the answer to this but, despite the discovery of healthy birds, which had apparently survived the winter, I believe that this is unlikely. This irruption of Letter-winged Kites was not a normal migra­ tion, in the sense of being one half of a to and fro movement, but an evacuation of an area which had become over-populated for the food supply available. It was nomadism but the birds resembled refugees rather than confident birds moving to a better food supply. Almost certainly it was only part of the population which moved, for the Letter-winged Kite is a permanent inhabitant of the Lake Eyre Basin and a small number can always find sustenance there. Following on this, it has no need for outside recruitment to maintain its breeding population. The mortality among those which came south was enormous and even those which survived probably came close to succumbing so that the species could in no way rely on any of these birds returning as a potential breeding source. Even though some birds may survive for longer than I first expected I believe that it is extremely unlikely that any kite which leaves the inland ever makes the return journey there. 8. Is the Letter-winged Kite extending its range? In the early days of the invasion there was much speculation about whether the kites would stay on to breed. Subsequent events have answered this question and, although there are isolated records of breeding outside their normal range, such as a 3.79 Letter-winged Kite 13

Map 5: Victoria records: July 1977 to May 1978.

Decay. The body of a Letter-winged Kite, at M.M.B.W. Farm, Werribee, Victoria. Plate 4 Photo by Peter Klapste 14 HOLLANDS 3.79 single nest at Casino, N.S.W., and the colony of seven pairs at Port Wakefield, S.A., in 1970, it seems that only its normal inland habitat can consistently provide the right combination of climate, terrain and food supply for it to thrive. It will almost certainly be many years before such numbers of Letter­ winged Kites appear in southern Australia again. Acknowledgements I am fortunate to have received abundant help in compiling this report and there is no question that it is only through this that I have been able to write it at all. Ken Simpson was enthusiastic about the idea from the start and he and Howard Jarman kept a seemingly endless flow of sightings coming to me. F. T. H. Smith and J. Klapste have made all their Werribee records available to me and Table II is compiled largely from information given by them. Margaret Blakers at R.A.O.U. Headquarters has given me much assistance and free access to data from The Atlas of Australian Birds. The maps were redrawn from my data by Malcolm Taylor. To all of them and to the many observers who allowed me to use their records, I am deeply grateful. Table 1: Letter-winged Kite records listed chronologically by States. VICTORIA ROOST/ DATE PLACE NUMBER PASSAGE OBSERVER Dec. 76 Mansfield p w.w. Dec. 76 Mount Bogong p 11 / 12/76to M.M.B.W. Sewage Many 26/3/78 Farm, Werribee up to 95 R Dec. 76 Mildura 25 R J.M.C. 4/12/76 Serendip 1 ? P.D.G. Dec. 76 F linders Golf Course 1 ? n/r 1/1/77 Morwell 1 p n/r 18/l /77 Ancona 1 ? T .S. 19/ 1/77 Yanakie Airstrip 4 R ? B.M.S. 21 /1/77 Merrick's Beach I R ? B.M.S. 23/1/77 Pori I p LB. Several Between Ashwood and weeks to Ashbmion R G.Ba. 16/3/77 2/2/77 to Genoa 2 R B.P. 12/2/77 5/2/77 Wilson's Promontory 1 R ? G .Ba. 17/2/77 Phillip Island 3 R YS. 22/2/77 Phillip Island 1 R ? R.S. Feb. 77 Anakie 3 ? n/r Feb. 77 Torquay 8 R n/r Feb. 77 Winchelsea 1 P? n/r F eb. 77 Point Cook 2 ? n/r F eb 77 You Yangs 2 ? n /r 4/3/77 to Phillip Island 40 R? D.S. ()/4177 Earl y Foxlow P ? G .H . Mar. 77 5/3/77 to Leslie Manor, 12/ 1178 Cam perdown up to 5 R GH. 12/3177 to Lismore- 17/4/77 Cam oerdown Road 8 R G .H. 1/3/77 to Yambuk. 21/4177 n'r Port Fairy up to 9 R G.Bo. 1/3/77 Port Fairy 1 ? G.Bo. 3.79 Letter-winged Kite 15

Recently dead Letter-winged Kite at M.M.B.W. Farm, Werribee, Victoria. Pla te 5 Photo by Peter Klapste 16 HOLLANDS 3.79

12/ 3/77 to Carrum Downs up to 16 R M.J.C. 115/6/77 16j3j77 Warrnambool 2 R G.B.r. 18j3j77 Brighton 1 p B.M.S 19/3!77 Waurn Ponds 9 ? P.W. 22j3f7 7 Piangil 1 P ? N.McF. 23/3/77 Peterborough 1 R ? L.W. March 77 Digger·s Rest 1 p C.N.A March 77 Mornington 1 ? G.P. 2/4/77 N 'r Clarkefield 6 p C.A. 6/4/77 Clayton 1 p B.M.S. 2/4/77 Bass 22 R D.S. 3/4/77 to Edithvale up to 12 R M.J.C. mid June 77 Early April Tarwin Lower 9 R E.L. to June 77 25 /4/77 Cherry Swamp 1 ? B.M.S April 77 Winchelsea 17 ? n/r April 77 Geelong-Colac Road 20+ '! G .P. April 77 Skipton 5 ? n/ r April 77 Newstead 1 ? n/r I / 1/77 Mount Waverley 1 p njr Sf I /77 Yan Yean 1 ? n/r 12/5/77 to , 5/6!77 n'r Mallacoota 1 1 R D.G.W.H. 3/5/77 to Mount Bute 10 R A.McB. 7/7 j77 13 /5/77 F ish Creek I ? B.M.S 25/5/77 N'r Ballarat I p P.D.G. 29/5/77 Rosedale 1 p A. F. May 77 Beaufort 5 ? n/r 5/6/77 Mallacoota 2 R ? D .G.W.H . 7/6/77 Lake Connewarre I ? H. B. 10/6/77 to Lang Lang 3 R Y.S. 11 /7/77 12/6/77 , n'r Glen Forbes I ? J .M. 13/6/77 Coromby 9 ? R.S. 4/7/77 Greenvale 1 p P .D.G. I 0/7 j77 Jung North 11 ? G.S. 518/77 Piangil 1 ? n/r 16/8/77 Shelford to Cressey Road I R ? R.W. 4/ 10/77 Edenhope I R ? I.M. 16/1 0/77 Beauchamp 1? ? F.L. 1/11 /77 Eden hope I R? I.M. 3/11 /77 Shelford to Cressev Road I R ? R.W. 22/11 /77 Merbein 2 R ? J.M.C. 12/1 2177 to Merbein 1 R ? J.M.C. 1 f", /1 2/77 29112177 Mortlake p R.W. 13/5/78 Shelford to Cressey Road R R.W. 14/5/78 Shelford to Cressey Road 2 R R.W.

NEW SOUTH WALES 23/1 2/76 to Long Reef Golf mid Jan. 77 Course, Sydney 3 R S.G.L. et al 27 & 28/12/76 Nambucca H eads 2 ? N .S.W.B.R . 28/1 2176 Hills ton 1 ? N.S.W.B.R. I /1/77 Mittagong 1 ? R.L. 1/1/77 N'r Bylong 1 ? per A.A.B. Looking remarkably parrot-like, weakened Letter-winged Kites take to resting on the ground at the M.M.B.W. Farm, Werribee, Victoria. Plate 6 Sketch by Peter Trusler Jan. 77 Tichborne, between Parkes and Forbes 10 P? N.S. 2/3/77 Narrabundah, A.C.T. I p J.McK. 11 /3/77 Lake George 1 ? P.B. 12/3/77 Botany Bay I ? B. & G.C. 14/3/77 Orange 1 ? per A.A.B. 5/4/77 Duffy, A.C.T. 3 ? J.H .L. 9/4/77 Con argo 1 P? R.T. 1/6/77 Moree 1 P? H.S. 17/9/77 Between Narrabri and Walgett 1 ? D.W. 17/ 10/77 Burrabol 5 ? P.A.D. QUEENSLAND 13/5/77 Stradbroke Island 4 ? J.M. NORTHERN TERRITORY 19/4/77 Warrego Mine ? per A.A.B. 23 /4/77 Arnningie Station ? per A.A.B. 26 /6/77 Double Hill, n'r Katherine ? per A.A.B . 18/6/77 Darwin ? T.K. SOUTH AUSTRALIA 1/ 1/77 N 'r Mount Gambier I ? D .R. Jan. to Minlaton 4 R W.L.Q. March 77 1/4/77 Beach port n/r ? J.C. I /4/77 Mt. Lilawk, n'r Mount Gambier n/r ? D.L. 10/4/77 Boo! Lagoon 15 R D.V. 10/6/77 Longbeach, Coorong I R ? K.S. & c.v.s. 11 /6/77 Cantarra, Coorong R? K.S.& C.V.S. WESTERN AUSTRALIA 13/ 2/77 Swan River n/r ? K.V. 1/3177 Darkan 1 ? I.L. 1)/3/77 Shark Bav 1 ? G. van T. 9/4/77 Mouth of Wallnip River, n'r Albany 1 ? N.M. 16/5/77 Leschenault Inlet n/r ? A.B. Mav 77 Brookton Highway n/r ? P.C. I /6/77 Canning River 1 ? per A.A.B. ~/77 ~~M~ ~r ? M .B. (n/r = bird no's. not recorded) 18 HOLLANDS 3.79

Observers Cecily Allen, per Atlas Australian Birds, Claude N. Austin, Michael Bamford, Ann Barker, Glen Barker, L. Bassett, Peter Bird, Horst Bohnke, Grace Bowker, Graham Brown, J. Cameron, Michael J. Carter, P. Clay, B. & G. Corfe, J. M . Cupper, Anthea Fleming, Phillip de Gueslin, P. A. Disher, Graeme Hirth, D. G. W. Hollands, Tess Kloot, S. G. Lane, J. H. Lewis, R . Long, F. Lowe, I. Lutz, Ellen Lyndon, N. Marr, Irene Marshall, J. Miles, John Morrison, A. McBean, Neil MacFarlane, John McKean, NEW SOUTH WALES BIRD REPORT, Bruce Pascoe, Graham P izzey, W. L. Quinn, D. Rooly, Cecilia Scanlan, N. Schroder, B. M . Schultz, R. Schultz, Ken Simpson, Yvonne Simpson, Greig Smith, Sir Henry Somerset, David Stewart, Rod Sympson, R. Thoday, G. van Tets, K. Vaughan, D. Vincent, Richard Weatherley, W. Weatherley, Lorna White, Pauline Wicksteed, D. Williams. Table II: Counts of Letter-winged Kites at M.M.B.W. Sewage Farm. DATE NUMBER DATE NUMBER DATE NUMBER ll /l 2f7 6 1 26/3/77 25 13/6/77 28 12/ 12/76 1 3/4/77 30 20/6/77 7 21 /l/77 4 4/4/77 60 26/6/77 16 22/ l/77 20+ 6/4/77 32 3/7/77 4 23/ I /77 14 12/4/77 34 1017/77 1 30/1 /77 32 15/4/77 28 1717/77 3 4/2/77 26 16/4/77 22 24/7177 2 6/2/77 54 1/5/77 95 31 /7177 2 13/2/77 37 8/5/77 20 7/8/77 2 19/2/77 68 14/5/77 12 14/8/77 1 23 /2/77 30 15/5/77 20 21/8/77 1 5/ 3/77 36 22/5/77 11 12/3/78 2 6/3/77 85 28 /5/77 26 19/3/78 1 13/ 3177 45 29/5177 64 26/3/78 4 19/3/77 28 5/6/77 SO+ References Beruldsen, Gordon, 1971. The Letter-winged Kite. Australian Bird Watcher 4 (2) : 76. Cameron, A. C., 1974. Nesting of the Letter-winged Kite in Western Queensland. Sunbird 5 ( 4): 89. Campbell, A. J., 1900. Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds. Carter, Michael J., 1977. Letter-winged K;tes at Carrum Downs, Victoria. Aust. Bird Watcher 8 : 27-30. Gould, John, J 840-1848 Birds of Australia. Hall, L. S. , 1969. Letter-winged Kites and rats. Emu 69: 182. Hollands, David, 1977. F ield observations on the Letter-winged Kite, Eastern Simpson Desert. Australian Bird Watcher 7 (3): 73. Jackson, Sidney William, 1919. H aunts of the Letter-winged Kite. Emu 18: 160. Klapste, J., 1979. Field Notes on the Letter-winged Kite Elanus scriptus at Werribee, Victoria, 1977. Aust Bird Watcher 8: 19-26. Meredith, Hayne, 1977. The dietary dosages of organochlorine contami­ nants ingested by populations of two wild raptors. B. Sc. Thesis. North, A. J., 1901-1904. Nests and Eggs of Birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Wheeler, Roy, 1977. Victorian records of the Letter-winged Kite. Geelong Naturalist. 14 (3): 57. White, H. L., 1919. The Letter-winged Kite (Elanus scriptus). Emu 18: 157. ABW