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Report and Summary of Results Field Techniques in Bird Studies November - December 2018 Report and summary of results The weather had been highly variable in the lead up to this year’s Field Techniques course, with temperatures from to -1.0 to 38.5 degrees recorded in the week prior, leaving course leaders Kelly Rayner and Tegan Douglas wondering what the coming week would bring. We had both a full schedule planned and a full house. Attendees came from far and wide, with April Slater, Kaarissa Harring-Harris, and Leah Petrie from Perth, Jess Overton from Busselton, Renae Richardson and Taylor Smith from Albany, and Charmaine Twine and Jennifer Jackson joining us from Kalgoorlie. BirdLife Western Australia generously provided grants to students April, Kaarissa, Leah and Renae to help cover their costs. Together with our very obliging hosts, caretakers Mandy and Steve Edwards, we made a merry gang, and wrangled a full week of activities that made use of the patches of good weather and tides, and skirted the less pleasant conditions. We started the week with a morning watching honeyeaters in the vicinity of the observatory, making notes about their behaviour so we could collate an identification key. This has been done previously with both honeyeater and beach birds, and provides insight into the value of recording behaviour instead of relying solely upon appearance. With only small patches of eucalypt flowering, honeyeaters were generally scarce, although we Table 1: Results of 20 minute, 2 hectare surveys at Eyre managed to gather enough observations Bird Observatory in 2018, expressed as birds per hectare. to build a key for New Holland ABC Survey Area Standard Rehab Honeyeaters, Brown Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, Brown-headed Honeyeater, Total size of area searched 6 ha 4 ha and White-eared Honeyeater (see below). Brush Bronzewing 0 0.25 Our first morning of mist-netting had to be Blue-breasted Fairy-wren 0 0.50 rescheduled due to strong wind, but on Wednesday we had a crisp 0.1 degree White-browed Scrubwren 0.33 0 start and a lovely calm morning for Weebill 0.17 0 banding. With a total catch of 49 birds, Spotted Pardalote 1.17 0.25 everybody had the opportunity to see some of the observatory’s feathered Red Wattlebird 0.17 1 residents up close. As per usual, the most Singing Honeyeater 0.17 4.25 commonly caught species was New New Holland Honeyeater 1.17 1.5 Holland Honeyeater (27), with flurries of Silvereye (18), plus Blue-breasted Fairy- Brown-headed Honeyeater 0.83 0 wren (2), Spotted Pardalote (1) and Brown Honeyeater 0.33 0.50 Singing Honeyeater (1) for variety. White-browed Babbler 0.33 0.25 Due to the intensive banding effort over the last 12 months, retrap rates were high, Grey Shrike-thrush 0 0.50 with 18% of New Holland Honeyeaters Golden Whistler 0 0.25 and 17% of Silvereyes sporting jewellery Grey Butcherbird 0.33 0 from previous banding efforts. Amongst the birds of known age were some older Grey Currawong 0.17 0 repeat customers too, including 4+ and 5+ Australian Raven 0 0.50 New Holland Honeyeaters and Silvereyes. Welcome Swallow 0 0.25 Everyone had the opportunity to learn appropriate handling techniques of birds, how bands are applied and measurements taken, and the types of information these data can provide. Many of the New Holland Honeyeaters were replacing their wing feathers, so everybody was able to try their hand at assessing wing moult too. During the week participants learnt different survey methods, gathering information on the densities of bush birds around the observatory. We conducted a point count along the West Track, as well as undertaking territory mapping and standard atlas searches near the observatory. These allow for comparison between the different methods and with previous years. Results of data collected during the course have been published previously in Corella (2010) 34:1-6. The team at Twilight Cove - photo Steve Edwards The standard atlas surveys (20-minute 2-hectare area searches) were conducted in three remnant mallee and two recently vegetated sand dune search areas (Table 1). This allowed participants to practice skills and strategies for timed surveys in different habitats. From their search results, the presence of territorial species such as Blue-breasted Fairy-wren and White-browed Babbler demonstrate how established the revegetated sites have become. Differences in food availability are evident when looking at differences in numbers of mobile insectivorous and frugivorous Silvereyes and Singing Honeyeaters, both of which were more abundant in the revegetated areas than the remnant sites. However, nectar sources could be found in both, with similar densities of New Holland and Brown Honeyeaters between the sites. Point counts, conducted along the West Track, are an effective way of monitoring mobile species (Table 2). Except for White-eared Honeyeater, all other honeyeater species were recorded in lower densities than previous years. It is uncertain whether this is a simple reflection of low nectar levels in the area, or whether the nearby 2017 fire scar is acting as a barrier to honeyeater movement. Territory mapping in the immediate vicinity of the observatory gave us insight into the densities of the Table 2: Density of birds (birds/ha) determined by Point Table 3: Bird densities determined by territory mapping a Count along the West Track in November 2018, with 22.5 ha grid around the observatory. Densities are shown as comparative data from earlier years. ‘—‘ Denotes where birds per hectare, and ‘—‘ denotes where birds were not birds were not present in great enough numbers to run the present, or density was unable to be determined. analysis. Density (birds per ha) Density (birds per ha) Year 2016 2017 2018 Year 2016 2017 2018 Species Species Brush Bronzewing 1.77 0.59 0.47 Blue-breasted Fairy-wren 2.49 0.84 1.20 Blue-breasted Fairy-wren -- 3.89 2.12 Spotted Pardalote 0.44 0.49 1.02 Spotted Pardalote 2.48 0.24 1.77 Striated Pardalote -- 0.27 -- Inland Thornbill -- 0.71 0.94 Inland Thornbill 0.40 0.40 0.53 White-browed Scrubwren 9.55 2.12 0.47 White-browed Scrubwren 0.98 1.02 0.89 Weebill 1.77 3.89 2.83 Weebill 1.16 0.71 0.80 Singing Honeyeater 2.48 0.53 -- Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater -- 0.27 -- Brown Honeyeater 1.77 -- 0.28 White-eared Honeyeater 0.18 0.49 0.13 New Holland Honeyeater 3.18 1.59 0.41 Brown-headed Honeyeater 0.53 0.40 0.58 White-eared Honeyeater -- -- 0.71 White-browed Babbler 1.56 0.89 0.67 Red Wattlebird 1.77 0.71 -- White-winged Triller -- -- 0.09 Grey Shrike-thrush 0.24 0.33 0.59 Golden Whistler 0.27 0.09 0.18 Grey Butcherbird -- -- 0.47 Grey Shrike-thrush 0.53 0.62 0.40 Grey Currawong 0.25 0.33 0.38 Grey Butcherbird 0.09 0.18 0.13 Silvereye 18.4 8.13 7.43 Welcome Swallow 0.59 6.72 1.77 more sedentary species (Table 3). Inland Thornbill and White-browed Scrubwren numbers appear consistent, whereas other species like the Blue-breasted Fairy-wren and White-browed Babbler were much more variable. This variability may simply relate to whether these group-living species have already bred in the current season, so group sizes are bolstered with first year birds. A visit to Burnabbie provided a change of scenery, some new additions to the bird list, and an opportunity for standard atlas surveys in a different habitat. Flowering eucalypts meant there was a solid contingent of honeyeaters, so good views of Spiny-cheeked, White-eared, White-fronted, and Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters were had. Rainbow Bee-eaters were in abundance, and Striated Pardalotes and Western Yellow Robin also made an appearance. A trip along Kanidal Beach and to Twilight Cove provided an opportunity to try our hand at identifying shorebirds, although species diversity was quite low. In addition to resident beach birds such as Red- capped Plover (111), and Pied Oystercatchers (13), only three intercontinental migrants were recorded – Ruddy Turnstone (9), Sanderling (2), and Red-necked Stint (1). Other species recorded on the beach included Australian Shelduck (19), Grey Teal (2), Pied Cormorant (5), Australian Pelican (3), White-bellied Sea-eagle (2), Wedge-tailed Eagle (1), Nankeen Kestrels (5), Banded Stilt (22), Silver (5) and Pacific (10) Gulls, and Caspian (3) and Crested (3) Terns. An Australian Sea Lion also made an appearance in the water off Twilight. A beach-washed seabird provided an opportunity for identification and autopsy. Participants determined the bird was a Soft-plumaged Petrel. Although a reasonably frequent beach-wash record for the observatory, it was unusual in being a pale morph individual, where most specimens that turn up on Kanidal Beach have been dark morph. No obvious cause of death could be determined, there was no evidence of plastic in the stomach or intestine, however the bird had bred recently. As ever, there was some excitement caused by non-birds during the week. The Pygmy Possum nestboxes were filled with furry critters, but to the chagrin of course participants these were mostly gloriously large, hairy huntsman spiders, rather than Western Pygmy Possums. However one lone male Pygmy Possum did come and visit us via the pitfall traps. There was fantastic camaraderie during the week. The enthusiasm of course participants and the wonderful hospitality of Mandy and Steve ensured we had a marvellous week. We are grateful to BirdLife Western Australia, for providing financial assistance in the form of student grants that allowed several of the students to attend.
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