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The BLSH flyer Volume 8 Number 3, August 2019 Silvereye by Erna Llenore Willy Wagtail Photo by Trevor Vale Contents From the President ......................................................................................... Page 2 From the Editor; Your Letters: A Film Fundraiser ................................................ Page 3 NatureMapr; Fish Thief .................................................................................... Page 4 Backyard birds captured .................................................................................. Page 5 Outing– Macquarie Pass and Clover Hill Road. 20 April ........................................ Page 6 Outing– Belanglo State Forest. 19 May; For Sale ................................................ Page 7 Outing– Pot Holes Reserve, Bargo. 26 May ........................................................ Page 8 Outing– Lake Baraba, Thirlmere Lakes National Park. 5 June ............................... Page 9 Outing– Lake Narambulla. 6 July .................................................................... Page 10 Outing– Erith Mine, Morton N.P. Bundanoon. 19 May. ....................................... Page 11 Outing– Botanic Gardens Mt Annan. 21 July ................................................ Page 11-12 Lambertia Formosa; Yellow-tailed Tree Feller ................................................... Page 13 Bird Trivia: An International Birding Eleven ..................................................... Page 14 Glossies in the Mist; Barking Owl .................................................................... Page 15 Lord Howe Island .................................................................................... Page 16-18 Bird Haven Festival; Worth a look ................................................................... Page 19 Members’ Bird Photography ...................................................................... Page 19-22 August 2019 From the President Christine Kelly How lucky we have been through the cooler months to have a visit from the Swift Parrot at the Mt Annan Botanic Gardens. The birds have been “resident” for some months now and can be easily seen in the eucalypts surrounding the Banksia Garden. Your last opportunity to see these birds so close to us is now, before they head back to Tasmania for their breeding season. We tend to despair when we wake these cold and windy winter mornings wondering just how our bird friends are faring through this weather. In winter we do not see the numbers of birds that we have grown used to seeing in the spring and summer. This of course, is because the birds have some in- teresting habits during the cooler months. Many of the species found in the Highlands during the warmer months simply leave the area when the weather turns cold and miserable. The Laughing Kookaburra, as an example, tends to move during the winter months, July to Septem- ber, seeking out suitable breeding spots. They choose to breed in or near the edges of forest or woodland and are therefore less visible in our gardens. During the day they can be seen on the lower branches and wires but they, like us all, shelter from the winds and rain, making them much more difficult to see. Often, they will migrate towards households who are providing food for them, during the winter months, therefore they are not out seeking their own food. As reported by member Peter Dewey, in an earlier Flyer, the little birds can still be found but they are not as busy in the winter months, seeking out food for their growing brood. They are not calling in search of a mate until the weather warms. Do not despair during the cooler months. Find a protected spot, rug up and sit in your garden enjoy- ing a hot drink. I am confident that you will see or hear some of your favourites, which can be added to your Birdata list. Swift Parrot, seen at Mt Annan Botanic Gardens on BLSH outing. Photo Jennie Wiles August 2019 2 From the Editor Thank you once again to members who have taken the time to let me know that they are enjoying the newsletter. I’ve included a couple of the letters below from members who have made comments on their favour- ite sections. In doing so I hope others will also comment in future on their favourites. Contributors get little feedback on their items and this would be a really nice way of giving some positive feedback. Please keep sending in all your questions, comments and letters, as your feedback is invaluable to [email protected] I’ll also take this opportunity to thank all the members who contribute to the newsletter and especially to those of you who contribute regularly. Just a reminder to contributors that written pieces are to be submitted as word documents. Last month’s edition was particularly well supported, so much so that a few articles were held over to this edition. Some feedback I have received suggests that a maximum size for enjoyable reading is about 20 pages. Thanks everyone for your fabulous contributions but if your item is not included im- mediately please understand that I will endeavour to include it later. Jennie Wiles Your Letters I loved the members' bird art section. In the Water pics my fave is the Black Swan with egg. I would have liked to know which cuckoo (?) that is in the Summer Visitor story on p. 17. It's a great credit to you to be able to keep up this standard in each edition. Julie Sheppard The picture on p17 in the Summer Visitor story is a juvenile Eastern Koel. The standard is dependent on the contributions.-Ed. Great edition and thanks for including mine. Good to see lots of mixed and interesting stuff. I loved the Grebes from Nigel. Lots of WOWs throughout. Beautiful water bird images. Helen Erskine A Film Fundraiser BLSH member Louise Egerton invites you all to an evening of entertainment at the Bowral Empire Cinema for a one- night only screening of that memorable classic, Butch Cassi- dy & the Sundance Kid. Featuring two of Hollywood’s most loved movie stars, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, the movie is a fun, action-packed story of two charismatic young men on a spree of robbery, adventure and romance. Save the date: Wednesday, 27th November, 6pm for 6.30pm. Tickets are $25, including light refreshments, avail- able from the box office at the Empire Cinema, Bowral; or from [email protected] All profits go to the Australian Conservation Foundation who, together with Birdlife Australia, have released a Recovery Plan for Threatened Species: https:// d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/auscon/pages/1011/ attachments/original/1466846598/ Recovery_Planning_Report.pdf August 2019 3 NatureMapr Report by Liaison Officer Col Kohlhagen Members who were present at the July Member’s Night will know about this new Citizen Science Project. Karen Guymer, Wingecar- ribee Shire Bushcare and Citizen Science Officer, provided mem- bers with an outline of this project and explained how they might be able to contribute. Council is creating a Nature Map for the Southern Highlands, and is seeking support from a wide range of amateur flora and fauna enthusiasts. Birds will have their own separate section and three members of the BLSH Identification Panel have signed on as moderators. Their role will be to help verify the birds submitted are correctly named, using both common and scientific names, and there are no sensitivity issues. e.g. the location of threatened species, etc. will not be made public if the welfare of the birds are endangered. Meanwhile, all members of our branch are encouraged to get involved. NatureMapr will be a great ve- hicle for our keen photographers to share their skills and help educate the general public about birdlife in the local area. Images may be tagged with the photographer’s name before they are lodged and they cannot be copied or reproduced without the photographer’s permission. Photographers may use a smart phone or camera with an in-built GPS system, or they may be taken with a camera and the co-ordinates determined by manually checking the location on Google Maps. This process which can bring up co-ordinates if the location can be pinpointed on a map. You can peruse the NatureMapr information at https://southern-highlands.naturemapr.org or speak with Karen Guymer, the project co-ordinator on 48680772. Fish Thief Val and Tony Cooper submit- ted this photo and wrote: “Charlie was fishing off Towradgi, NSW when this Eastern Osprey stole his bream and took off!” August 2019 4 Backyard birds captured These fabulous bird photos were kindly shared by Mary Taylor. They are an excellent example of photos taken locally that could be submitted to Nature Mapr as described in the previous article. Eastern Spinebill Red-browed Finch Variegated Fairy-wren Eastern Yellow Robin White-browed Scrubwren Pied Currawong Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Crimson Rosella Lewin’s Honeyeater August 2019 5 Outing- Macquarie Pass and Clover Hill Road, 20 April, 2019. Report by walk organiser Peter Madvig Eight members and two welcome visitors met up at the Robertson Pie Shop car park and “pooled” in- to three vehicles, upon which we descended the Macquarie Pass/Illawarra Hwy, pulling into the lower car park and grassed picnic area, from which folk can amble up the track to Cascade Falls. We, however, just spent a few minutes looking and listening from the glade, picking up Red-browed Finch, Satin Bowerbird, and Grey Fantail, and hearing a few more – before driving back up the pass for 2.2kms and making a sharp left hand turn into the small car park, from which we commenced our walk along Clover Hill Road,
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