The Whistler is the occasionally issued journal of the Hunter Bird Observers Club Inc. ISSN 1835-7385 The aims of the Hunter Bird Observers Club (HBOC), which is affiliated with Bird Observation and Conservation Australia, are: To encourage and further the study and conservation of Australian birds and their habitat To encourage bird observing as a leisure-time activity HBOC is administered by a Committee: Executive: Committee Members: President: Paul Baird Hayley Boyce Vice-President: Michael Roderick Robert McDonald Secretary: Rob Kyte Lorna Mee Treasurer: Joy Nicholls Kristy Peters Allan Richardson Dan Williams The Whistler is produced by: Mike Newman (Joint Editor) Harold Tarrant (Joint Editor) Liz Crawford (Production Manager) Chris Herbert (Cover Designer) Printed in Newcastle by Print National Authors wishing to submit manuscripts for consideration for publication should consult Instructions for Authors on page 62 and submit to the Editors: Mike Newman [email protected] and/or Harold Tarrant [email protected] Authors wishing to contribute articles of general bird and birdwatching news to the club newsletter, which has six issues per year, should submit to the Newsletter Editor: Liz Crawford [email protected] © Hunter Bird Observers Club Inc. PO Box 24 New Lambton NSW 2305 Website: www.hboc.org.au Front cover: Cattle Egret Ardea ibis - Photo: Chris Herbert Back cover: Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos - Photo: Phil Hansbro Editorial The Whistler 5 (2011): i-ii The Whistler – Editorial The sudden disappearance of the House Sparrow somewhat surprisingly, that this species can be Passer domesticus from areas of Britain in which it sufficiently numerous around the Hunter Estuary had previously seemed entrenched came as a shock to qualify the area for IBA status. We would urge to many residents, and it should serve as a warning members to continue to ponder whether other to us all that even species that may seem to be species might be present at any site in sufficient abundant may soon face unexpected threats. The numbers to merit this designation. Regent Honeyeater Anthochaera phrygia used once to be abundant in south-east Australia, but it Our off-shore seabirds, which face a rather is now officially ‘Critically Endangered’ in NSW, different set of threats from the Rufous Scrub-bird, the state in which it is strongest. A lack of have also lacked the desired regular monitoring evidence for successful breeding may be the first because of their inaccessibility. It is pleasing that sign of problems. Accordingly, we commence this the resumption of pelagic trips has been able to issue with a paper that documents the decline of contribute further data for a paper on this topic. the Cattle Egret Ardea ibis as a breeding species in the Hunter Region, not necessarily because there is Many sites close to residential areas are well cause for immediate alarm, but rather because it known as places where birds can be watched, but reminds us of the remarkable fragility of some the keeping of regular records is necessary if their species that we have come to regard as abundant conservation value is to be understood. Two papers and perhaps even as unimportant. In order to in the current issue examine the total bird- balance the picture we have also been able to populations of specific sites: Blackbutt Reserve include a study of a new breeding site for Cattle within Newcastle and the suburb of Bolwarra near Egrets in the Gloucester area. Hopefully our Maitland. A gradual accumulation of local experiences in this region will prompt wider knowledge at these sites now permits observations discussion and data collection that can build up a to be made regarding species that are in decline or better picture nationally of what has been are increasing. Changes are likely to reflect wider happening to this species. changes in the immediate area or across the Hunter Region. Monitoring and understanding these The fortunes of the Cattle Egret may relate in a fluctuations may assist us to initiate conservation variety of ways to those of heron and ibis species measures for the species involved. more widely, and there is a further paper that deals with the numbers of all such species recorded at We are particularly pleased to offer several short Morpeth Wastewater Treatment Works. Like the notes, the majority in some way connected with paper on Cattle Egrets the paper has become birds’ diets. Most of these notes concern larger possible because of the collection of many years of species whose prey items and hunting tactics can data, in this case involving monthly surveys. be observed easily. The Editors would naturally encourage submission of notes on the diet and Hopefully long-term data will eventually become foraging techniques of smaller species, but it may available for the elusive Rufous Scrub-bird require keener observation perhaps aided by Atrichornis rufescens, and we are pleased to offer a photographic techniques. Smaller species, the preliminary study of the status of this species on Jacky Winter Microeca fascinans and the Willie the Barrington and Gloucester Tops. This area has Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys, do feature been nominated recently as an Important Bird Area prominently in the notes — two species which (IBA) because of the relatively high number of this have developed a variety of tactics for repelling or vulnerable high-country species. While it is avoiding potential predators. We hope the reader difficult at this stage to be sure of the benefits to will benefit from reading about their behaviours the birds of the IBA designation, it can at least be here. pointed to as a sign of high conservation status. It is, therefore, most welcome that a short study of This is now the fifth issue of The Whistler to have Chestnut Teal Anas castanea shows, perhaps been published, and the journal has so far been i Editorial The Whistler 5 (2011): i-ii able to be produced annually. It is our belief that of knowledge that has potentially been generated these issues provide a valuable record for future by Hunter Bird Observers Club members as a bird observers and ornithologists, of contemporary, result of their systematic studies, that yet remains and in some cases historical distribution, undocumented. We stress that information in abundance and behaviour of avian species in the notebooks is not yet knowledge, and always needs Hunter Region. Hopefully this can provide a to be widely shared to ensure that it lives on. Even snapshot in time for future generations to draw on. in the Hunter Region Annual Bird Report series, which is a valuable repository of members’ It is important that The Whistler is not simply read observations, the information remains fragmented. by bird enthusiasts and specialists, but that its The seabirds paper in this volume demonstrates information also reaches those empowered with how it can be integrated to provide an overview of the management of the environment. It is the status of a guild of birds. Similar synthesis is encouraging that knowledge contained in The required for other groups and equally importantly Whistler has already been used to provide solid for single species. Here is an opportunity for new evidence to inform the decisions of local and state authors lacking a personal database to make an governments. This is particularly important with important contribution to the understanding of the regard to the pressures for development upon Hunter Region’s birds. Hopefully, further Kooragang Island, where numerous birds and systematic studies will be encouraged by the industry have so far managed to coexist uneasily. awareness that there are avenues for the The article on Deep Pond in The Whistler Number publication and dissemination of their outcomes. 3 is central to obtaining the best possible outcomes And we would urge all those observing birds in the for birds threatened by a development proposal Hunter Region to make notes on all incidental presently under review. Furthermore, even before sightings of special interest. It is surprising how this issue is printed, it is anticipated that its leading often such notes can result in greater awareness of article on egrets will already have been used for a bird behaviours, whether locally or nationally. submission opposing a development application. Your perceptive observations may even be the catalyst for professional research. While mindful that much has so far been achieved, we believe that there is still an enormous volume Mike Newman and Harold Tarrant Joint Editors ii Breeding population decline in Cattle Egrets The Whistler 5 (2011): 1-7 Breeding population decline in Cattle Egrets nesting at Seaham Swamp Nature Reserve and Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia Max Maddock Project Egret Watch, Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia A long-term research study by the Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia (HWCA) Project Egret Watch investigated the number of Cattle Egret Ardea ibis breeding in the nesting seasons 1987/88–2010/11 at HWCA and Seaham Swamp Nature Reserve (SSNR). A general trend of major decline in numbers was identified for each colony and for the total number of nests for the two colonies combined. The combined total represents almost the entire nesting population of the species in the Hunter (the very small contribution of Toronto Wetland being excluded because of discontinuous records). No nesting was recorded at SSNR in 2008/09-2010/11. The 235 nests at HWCA in 2008/09 represented the entire population in a crash of 87% from the 1,900 pairs, which comprised the all-time peak breeding stock in 1987/88. The decline continued to 155 in 2009/10 and 158 in 2010/11. This is a recipe for total extinction of the Hunter nesting population and a warning that the point of no return may have been passed already.